At Sansan Chicken in Long Island City, Queens, the cashier beamed a wide smile and recommended the fried chicken sandwich. Or maybe she suggested the tonkatsu — it was hard to tell, because the internet connection from her home in the Philippines was spotty. Romy, who declined to give her last name, is one of 12 virtual assistants greeting customers at a handful of restaurants in New York City, from halfway across the world. The virtual hosts could be the vanguard of a rapidly changing... Read this story
