From Fortune · Mia Osmonbekov · · 2m
AI agents barely used for everyday tasks, platforms report
Uber, DoorDash and Airbnb say AI agents handle negligible orders despite tech companies' promises to automate shopping, food delivery and travel booking.
In brief
Uber, DoorDash and Airbnb say AI agents handle negligible orders despite tech companies' promises to automate shopping, food delivery and travel booking. AI agents from Meta and OpenAI are generating minimal business for Uber, DoorDash and Airbnb, which report they automate tasks already simple enough that users…
Tech giants launch AI agents for errands
Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dots promise to automate everyday tasks like booking trips, ordering food and shopping online. Both launched in September.
Uber reports minimal AI agent bookings
Uber CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy said AI agents booked four Uber rides and five hundred Uber Eats deliveries out of three hundred twenty million combined rides and food deliveries during the week of Halloween.
DoorDash sees only hundreds of AI orders
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu told analysts AI agents are generating maybe several hundred orders in total across the time that they have been up and running.
“maybe several hundred orders in total across the time that they have been up and running”
Tasks too simple to need automation
Matt Maher, founder and CEO of M7 Innovations, said tech giants are overcomplicating simple things like booking a restaurant reservation that were not problems needing innovation.
“If you really want to nab something immediately, it's going to be easier if you do it yourself as a human.”
Uber rides take fifty seconds to book
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said it takes a median of fifty seconds for a customer to order an Uber and ninety seconds to order Uber Eats, so they are unlikely to turn to an agent.
Airbnb: travel is aspirational, not routine
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said out of nearly half a million bookings a day, a very non-material number happen through AI agents. Eighty percent of travelers like researching their trips.
“Discovering where to go and where to stay is part of the experience.”
Consumers distrust AI with personal data
Michael Klein, director of product marketing at Talkdesk, said consumers lack confidence in AI agents to make choices and want transparency about how agents collect and use their data.
“For example, for a shopper to feel comfortable sharing their credit card information with an AI agent, they want to know where, how, and why that information is going to be used.”
Platforms build their own AI tools instead
Uber Eats offers Cart Assistance to fill baskets from photos or recipes, generating roughly twice the average basket. DoorDash has Ask DoorDash and Text DoorDash. Airbnb will roll out its own agent early next year.
What it means
AI agents from Meta and OpenAI are generating minimal business for Uber, DoorDash and Airbnb, which report they automate tasks already simple enough that users prefer doing them themselves.
