Domino's Singapore and Malaysia turn to decentralised AI to improve pizza delivery

Want a side of blockchain with your late-night pizza delivery?

Domino’s Pizza in Singapore and Malaysia have partnered with SingularityNET in a tech-driven attempt to make the delivery process more efficient.

As service industries become more concerned with the looming spectre of automation, using blockchain technology seems like a scalable way to build AI-powered accountability into a traditionally human-powered service.

SingularityNET is a Netherlands-based AI company with projects in everything from healthcare to digital security and robotics. The relationship seems like a win-win for both companies, as this marks SingularityNET’s first partnership with an internationally recognised consumer brand.

While many blockchain skeptics subscribe to a “just because we can, doesn’t mean we should” approach to applying blockchain to everything and anything, an easily auditible, decentralised ledger makes sense for a food delivery company with large-scale logistics.

Besides the end-user experience of receiving a pizza, Domino’s could also use SingularityNET’s network of machine learning algorithms to streamline how they order and track their ingredients and supplies.

Over the past years, Domino’s has positioned itself as a tech-savvy food logistics company, first with its cute (but engaging) real-time pizza tracking feature, then with last year’s US-only Delivery Hotspots feature, which allowed customers to receive orders at locations without fixed addresses (think carparks, public swimming pools, and beaches).

American company Papa John’s was the first pizza brand to become associated with blockchain: in 2010, a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz offered 10,000 Bitcoin for someone to send him two Papa John’s pizzas, an event known among crypto enthusiasts as Bitcoin Pizza Day.