I let ChatGPT decide what I should order at McDonald's and the results were confusing yet delicious

I decided to specify that I wanted to place my order in the United States to avoid getting suggestions for international menu items.

Still, I was recommended menu items that aren't available at McDonald's restaurants in the US, which confused me — shouldn't the artificial-intelligence program know that?

It also suggested I "swap out the regular bun for a sesame seed bun or even a pretzel bun for added flavor and texture." However, the burger already comes on a sesame-seed bun.

For a side, ChatGPT recommended I order sweet-potato fries. However, sweet-potato fries are not on the menu. Since it also recommended the chain's classic fries, I ordered those instead.

The app suggested I complete my meal with a strawberry lemonade "for a delightful beverage choice," but my McDonald's location also didn't have strawberry lemonade. Instead, I got a regular lemonade.

My meal came to $18.63, excluding tax and fees, with all of the customizations.

The burger already comes with a burger patty, two slices of American cheese, onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. It was free to add extra sliced onion, but it was $3.49 to add bacon. There wasn't an option for the onions to be grilled, as the app suggested.

It cost $0.75 to add sliced jalapeños as a side order, but when the burger was given to me they were already on it.

The burger was weighty, which I appreciated given the fact that the meal was almost $20.

There were a variety of flavors happening in my mouth — the tang from the perfectly melted cheese, the spicy addition of the jalapeños, and the crispy bacon culminated in one of the best fast-food burgers I've had in a while.

While I thought the meal was pricey, I really enjoyed the burger and would definitely order it again. I began to think that maybe ChatGPT really was clued in to what to order at fast-food chains.

While the chain didn't have sweet-potato fries, as the app suggested, the classic fries were right up my alley. They were crispy, salty, and everything I've come to expect from McDonald's fries.

The lemonade was subtly sweet and refreshing, but I would have liked to see how the slightly more tart, interesting flavor of a strawberry lemonade would have gone with the burger and fries. I was disappointed that ChatGPT was wrong about McDonald's having strawberry lemonade.

As a fast-food reporter, I've tried pretty much every item at most fast-food chains. I was surprised that asking an AI robot what to order resulted in trying something I'd never had before.

I will definitely add bacon, onions, and jalapeños to my McDonald's burgers in the future, and I hope that one day, maybe I'll actually be able to try sweet-potato fries or strawberry lemonade from the golden arches to complete the meal.