DoorDash introduced an in-app AI chatbot called Ask DoorDash on Thursday, allowing customers to order food, build grocery carts, and book restaurant reservations using text prompts, photos, or voice inputs.
The tool lets users describe what they want, upload recipe photos, and build grocery carts through a conversational interface
Chelsea Guglielmino / Getty Images
DoorDash introduced an in-app AI chatbot called Ask DoorDash on Thursday, allowing customers to order food, build grocery carts, and book restaurant reservations using text prompts, photos, or voice inputs.
The chatbot is accessible via a dedicated button labeled "Ask" embedded within the app's search bar. They can describe a craving, upload a cookbook photo or recipe link, or snap a picture of a grocery list, and the app builds a cart from the results. To generate suggestions, the system pulls from a combination of each user's ordering history and outside sources such as blog posts and social media reviews, the company said. The feature is available in select markets on iOS for restaurant search and grocery shopping, with reservations and broader U.S. availability rolling out in the coming weeks.
Early testing showed tangible results. Nearly half of all restaurant orders placed through the tool were from a place the customer had never ordered from before, according to Bloomberg. The company also said carts assembled through the chatbot ran more than 35% higher in value than a standard grocery order, with users completing them five times faster than they would through the regular app interface.
"We've spent over a decade building an app that puts everything in your city at your fingertips, but more options shouldn't mean more work," DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang said in a statement. The average U.S. DoorDash user has access to an estimated 800,000 menu items and grocery products on the platform, the company said.
Fang told Bloomberg the product draws on AI models built by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google $GOOGL, supplemented by open-source options. Fang also said that internal development on a conversational ordering tool dates back to at least 2023, though the company chose not to ship anything until the underlying models had matured sufficiently. Zesty, a standalone social app DoorDash had used as a proving ground for AI experiments, was shuttered in April once those capabilities were ready to be folded into the core platform.
Fang added that DoorDash intends to license the technology to outside partners — grocers, restaurants, and other retailers — who would deploy it under their own branding, a move that sharpens its rivalry with Instacart as that company expands its own enterprise-focused AI business.
The chatbot rollout arrives at a moment when DoorDash is working to unify the technology underpinning its portfolio, which has grown to include restaurant reservations platform SevenRooms, acquired for $1.2 billion, and Deliveroo, the British delivery company it bought for close to $4 billion, according to CNBC. Shares have lost 33% of their value so far this year, a slide that began after the company disclosed in late 2025 that it planned to direct several hundred million dollars toward new products and technology over the course of 2026.
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