Dive Brief:
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McDonald's appointed Das Dasgupta as global chief data analytics and AI officer, according to a Wednesday LinkedIn post. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Dasgupta brings 25 years of data, management and AI experience to the restaurant chain. He held leadership roles at Amazon, Viacom and Starbucks, most recently serving as the coffee chain's chief data and analytics officer. Dasgupta is also an adjunct professor at USC Marshall School of Business and holds a PhD from Penn State.
- “In the near term, I’ll focus on building ‘Moneyball’ teams, early wins that matter in restaurants and in the app, and a scalable foundation for AI that helps our people do their best work,” Dasgupta said in the post.
Dive Insight:
The data and AI appointment at McDonald's comes three months after the chain announced plans to revamp its U.S. tech leadership lineup.
Valerie Ashbaugh was appointed to replace Whitney McGinnis as the company's U.S. CIO, effective Aug. 1. McGinnis swapped roles with Ashbaugh, becoming SVP, commercial products and platforms.
McDonald’s is moving forward on its AI deployment, with a sharp focus on the underlying technology, according to the company’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski.
“Edge is the digital foundation for the next generation of restaurant innovation that powers AI and IoT-enabled restaurants,” Kempczinski said in August, during the company's Q2 2025 earnings call. “The expected benefits are many: Increased restaurant uptime and enhanced customer and crew experience, improved food quality and cost savings opportunities.”
Kempczinski pointed to an AI-driven predictive maintenance capability for shift managers as a key use case, but warned it was still early days for wider deployment.
The burger staple is not alone in its pursuit of AI deployments.
Chipotle attributed a 46% increase in platform engagement after it rolled out an AI assistant to customers. Pizza Hut and Taco Bell parent company Yum Brands is working on the rollout of an in-house voice AI solution to power drive-thru customer service.
