The food delivery company DoorDash is hungering to level up its customer experience, and AI may be just what its digital menu ordered. The company is nurturing an experimental AI-powered chatbot called DashAI that could cater to users’ culinary cravings.
What Is DashAI?
The goal is to allow peckish people to text their tastes to DashAI and have it serve up ideas for takeout based on their preferences. The intention is that this would beat browsing boring restaurant menus when your stomach starts growling for some grub.
DashAI was created by developer Steve Moser in the DoorDash iPhone app’s code. It has a warning that the AI is still cooking, so don’t expect Michelin star suggestions quite yet. But DoorDash seems eager to keep feeding DashAI data until it’s ready for primetime.
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu explained the app is “actively testing and iterating on different innovations,” likely salivating at AI’s potential to dominate dining delivery. Of course, after rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT went viral, every tech titan wants a piece of that AI pie.
If DashAI masters the art of AI-driven appetites, it could give DoorDash an essential edge on competitors. Customers do crave effortless, personalized experiences just as much as they do tacos. AI could be the secret sauce that satisfies their late night desire for chicken tikka masala, delivered with utmost convenience.
DoorDash is already swallowing over 65% of sales, per Bloomberg data. So AI tech could help it gobble up even more market share if the chatbot can intuit people’s on-demand dining decisions.
How Does This Improve CX?
My only real question is how is this new feature different from simply searching for a preferred type of cuisine? Users of the app can already search for their favorite kinds of foods (e.g. Healthy, Thai, Mexican, Fast Food, Pizza, Chicken, Desserts, etc.) And, users can already save their favorite restaurants or search settings, presumably letting the app’s existing AI know their preferences.
So, being able to text the Chatbot the same preferences to get the same kinds of recommendations seems a bit redundant to me. The company’s CEO shared some of the queries users can ask the app via text, including:
- What’s a place that delivers burgers and also has good salad options?
- Where can I get authentic Asian food? I like Chines and Thai.
I honestly don’t see how texting that to the app is more productive than simply searching for “burgers and salads” on the app – which delivers the local options for both tasty treats.
We’ll have to patiently wait and see if DashAI enters the order queue or gets sent back to the kitchen for more prep. But if, in the food delivery wars, victory goes to those who innovate. DoorDash just might have an artificial brainwave that pays off. Stay tuned.
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Read more: DoorDash Bets on AI to Drive New Customer Experiences
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