Uber, DoorDash and Airbnb Report Low AI Agent Adoption
Uber, DoorDash, and Airbnb executives report negligible adoption of third-party AI agents for bookings and orders while developing their own proprietary AI tools.
Executives from Uber Technologies Inc., DoorDash, and Airbnb report that third-party AI agents, including Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dots, have seen negligible adoption for booking rides, ordering food, or reserving travel. During third-quarter earnings calls, the companies revealed that general-purpose agents have failed to gain significant traction with consumers.
Uber CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy stated that during the final week of October, AI agents accounted for only four ride-hailing trips and 500 Uber Eats orders out of 320 million total trips. DoorDash CEO Tony Xu noted the company has received only several hundred total orders from AI agents since their September launch. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky described the number of bookings via agents as non-material compared to nearly half a million daily bookings, arguing that travel is an aspirational experience where users prefer manual research.
Despite the lack of success for third-party agents, all three companies are building proprietary AI tools. Uber has introduced Cart Assistance, DoorDash is testing text-to-order features, and Airbnb plans to roll out a custom AI-native experience early next year to assist guests with trip planning.
