AI in Digital Signage at KFC

Fast food restaurants are not typically where new AV concepts debut. But in Taiwan, KFC is using its restaurants as a proving ground for an emerging mix of AI in digital signage and human-machine interaction. The company has rolled out “Kala,” a virtual human assistant, across dozens of locations as part of its Digital Future Store 2.0 initiative. For IT and AV managers, this deployment offers a real-world example of how advanced AV technologies are moving beyond displays and into interactive, customer-facing systems.

Kala is not a kiosk, chatbot, or simple animated character. She is a digital human designed to look and behave like a real KFC employee. Built using AI and digital human technology from Pantheon Lab, Kala greets customers, answers menu questions, and helps guide the ordering process. The goal is not novelty for novelty’s sake, but improving customer engagement while supporting staff in high-volume environments.

Digital Humans as an AV System

From an AV perspective, Kala represents a convergence of several familiar technologies assembled into a more sophisticated experience. At the surface level, she appears on a display, but behind that screen is a tightly integrated system that blends content creation, AI processing, and real-time interaction.

The visual component is built on high-resolution digital signage displays positioned where customers naturally pause and look for guidance. These displays must support consistent brightness, color accuracy, and reliability in environments that operate long hours. For AV managers, this is a reminder that display performance and uptime become even more critical when the screen is perceived as a “person” rather than passive signage.

Behind the visuals is an AI engine capable of speech recognition, natural language processing, and real-time response generation. Kala listens to customer questions, interprets intent, and delivers spoken responses that align with brand tone and operational rules. Audio capture and playback are essential here. Microphone placement, ambient noise control, and speaker intelligibility all directly affect how well the system performs. Poor audio design would undermine the entire experience.

Humanizing AI in Digital Signage

One of the more interesting technical choices in the Kala deployment is the decision to base her appearance on hundreds of real KFC employees. This approach required advanced facial scanning, animation, and rendering workflows. From an AV standpoint, this raises important questions about content pipelines and long-term maintenance.

Digital humans are not static assets. Lighting conditions, display resolutions, and viewing angles all influence how believable the character appears. AV teams supporting similar deployments will need to think beyond traditional signage content updates and consider how digital characters are tested, updated, and optimized across locations.

This also introduces new coordination challenges between AV, IT, and marketing teams. Changes to the digital human’s appearance or behavior may involve updates to AI models, content servers, and local playback systems. Clear ownership and workflows become essential.

Infrastructure and Integration Considerations

Kala’s success depends on more than the display and AI software. Reliable network connectivity is critical, particularly if AI processing occurs in the cloud. IT managers must ensure sufficient bandwidth, low latency, and redundancy to avoid degraded interactions during peak hours.

Security and privacy are also key considerations. Any system that listens to customer speech raises questions about data handling, storage, and compliance. Even if audio is processed in real time and not retained, IT teams must validate how vendors manage data and ensure alignment with local regulations and corporate policies.

Integration with existing restaurant systems is another challenge. While Kala may not directly process transactions, she operates alongside self-service kiosks, point-of-sale systems, and order pickup displays. AV and IT managers need to evaluate how these systems coexist, how failures are handled, and how staff intervene when technology does not behave as expected.

What This Means for AV and IT Managers

Kala is a clear signal that AV systems are becoming more interactive, more intelligent, and more closely tied to business operations. For IT and AV managers, this trend expands the scope of responsibility. Supporting digital humans requires skills in display technology, audio design, networking, security, and systems integration.

It also changes how success is measured. Instead of asking whether a display is on and showing content, teams must consider user experience, response accuracy, and customer trust. A virtual human that feels slow, inaccurate, or unnatural can do more harm than good.

As digital humans move into other environments like corporate lobbies, healthcare, education, and retail, the lessons from KFC’s deployment will become increasingly relevant. Kala may be serving fried chicken today, but the underlying AV and IT challenges are the same ones many organizations will soon face.

For your company, this is not about replacing people. It is about understanding how AV technologies are evolving into interactive platforms that shape how users experience spaces. Kala shows that the future of AV is not just what people see, but how systems listen, respond, and engage in real time.