AI Agents Have Barely Made a Dent in App Orders

Predictions that AI agents would quickly take over online shopping and bookings have yet to translate into substantial orders at major delivery and ride-hailing companies. Uber and DoorDash executives said usage remained very small in early November 2026.

Uber handled 320 million ride-hailing and delivery trips during October 26 through November 1, its chief financial officer, Balaji Krishnamurthy, said. About 500 Uber Eats orders that week came through AI agents, along with just four ride-hailing trips. Krishnamurthy characterized the early traction as very limited.

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said personal AI assistants had placed a few hundred orders with the company. The figure is small beside the billions of orders DoorDash delivers each year.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky also described bookings made through Meta’s Muse and Instinct agents as very low. Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel said adoption of broad-purpose personal agents could be slower than expected.

Some consumers use agents to purchase items such as plane tickets and groceries or to track prices. Others are cautious because of ordering mistakes and concerns about agents using payment details improperly. Companies are still developing AI features: DoorDash said in September it was testing a text-to-order option that lets customers place orders without using its app.