Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) opened its first artificial intelligence-enabled store in Beijing on Friday in cooperation with Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine, with plans to increase the number of smart restaurants.

At the restaurant, in the Financial Street area in Beijing, customers are able to take pictures with a machine, which will recognize the diner's face, sex, age, and mood among other features, then recommend suitable food and set meals before completing the ordering process.

"If the consumer visits the store again and takes a picture with the machine, it will be able to recognize his or her face and show the previous purchase history, remember the customer's dining habits, and help place an order faster," said Wu Zhongqin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Deep Learning of Baidu Inc, which helped develop the technology.

With another machine with an augmented reality (AR), customers are able to interact with the machine, change facial expressions by shaking their heads in front of it, take photos, and save them to their phones.

In April, KFC, an affiliate of Yum China Holdings Inc, launched its first Chinese smart restaurant in Shanghai. The outlet is equipped with intelligent robot ordering, debuting the use of artificial intelligence in chain restaurants.

Zhao Li, General Manager of Beijing KFC, said smart restaurants are not only about cool hardware, but more about providing convenience to customers.

"Our innovations make use of cutting-edge technologies and they will help to attract more young consumers who prefer fashionable new things. The digitalization of the restaurant will also help provide faster and easier services," she said.

With 5,000 stores in China, KFC plans to expand such services nationwide to enable more diners undergo enjoyable ordering experiences, Zhao added. 

(Adapted from CRI)