Kinney Drugs . Retail
Burt, an AI phone assistant for pharmacy calls and prescription refills
Killed
Pilot
Production
Scaled
Killed
The scaling back of the AI tool means that the pharmacy has returned to its previous prompt-based, touch-tone phone system for patient callsFrom the source, 2026-08-10
What happened
Kinney Drugs, a Vermont and New York pharmacy chain, brought in the Burt AI assistant in May 2026. Customers complained of medication delays, wrong refill information and confusion, and privacy experts raised concerns that the company disputed. In August, the president told WCAX it did not get the customer experience right, and the chain moved patient calls back to a touch-tone system. Burt still sends refill texts, but only to patients who opt in.
Sources
- Company
- Kinney Drugs
- Industry
- Retail
- Vendor / platform
- Not stated in source
- Type
- Voice agent
- Status
- Killed
- Evidence date
- 2026-08-10
- Source
- https://vtdigger.org/2026/08/10/kinney-drugs-pulls-back-ai-tool-after-customer-complaints/
- Last checked
- 2026-10-17
Status reflects only what the linked source states on the evidence date. If it changed, Suggest an update.