As artificial intelligence tools and agents continue their expansion across all aspects of digital life, many companies are attempting to use large language models to enhance the experience of purchasing goods and services on the internet. However, a vanishingly small number of people seem to be taking advantage of these new capabilities when it comes to using the popular food delivery app DoorDash with an outside AI agent.
During a third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, DoorDash co-founder and CEO Tony Xu responded to an analyst question by noting that AI agents are generating several hundred orders across the time that they have been up and running. For a company that handled just shy of 1 billion total orders in the third quarter of 2026 alone, Xu characterized this figure as a very low use case.
Speaking generally on the topic, Xu stated that he sees the potential for AI agents to be genuinely helpful for long consideration purchases and major decisions where the agents would be proactively doing work on behalf of the user in the background. Nevertheless, Xu added that when it comes to a task that is as simple as ordering food, the company tends to see customers come directly to DoorDash.