Uber Eats Is Developing AI-Powered Chatbot to Speed Up Food Orders

Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER) is reportedly working on an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that will not only offer recommendations to customers but also help them place faster orders. As Bloomberg noted in a recent report, details about the chatbot came to light when developer Steve Moser stumbled on a code hidden within the Uber Eats app.

Although there is no official statement about the feature yet, wording within the code reveals what a user is expected to see after launching the chatbot. According to Moser, “AI assistant was designed to help you find relevant restaurant dishes and more.”

The chatbot will take note of a user’s budget, and their food preferences before helping them place an order. As of publication, however, it is not yet clear whether Uber would be going public with the chatbot or not.

Uber Eats to Compete with Other Popular Apps Using AI

Without a doubt, AI has taken the world by storm. So much so, that many apps have had to integrate the technology into their systems to keep up with the trend and tap its full potential.

For Uber Eats, however, it would want to stay ahead of some of its direct competitors, such as DoorDash and Instacart, by using AI to improve food delivery. As Coinspeaker reported, DoorDash has been developing what it calls the DashAI. Instacart, on the other hand, is also developing its own chatbot which is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology. So, now, it becomes a race of who might first fully integrate AI into its app.

Meanwhile, Uber generally is not new to AI integrations such as this. According to the company CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber already uses AI to match users to drivers and couriers. And, considering that Uber Eats helps the company to make about a third of its total revenue, the AI chatbot is truly in development, Khosrowshahi confirms to Bloomberg Television.