AI agents booked four Uber rides during the week of Halloween. Humans booked 320 million.
Uber is one of three companies, along with DoorDash and Airbnb, saying agents account for almost none of their transactions. DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said agents were responsible for several hundred orders on a platform that handles billions of orders a year. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said only a negligible portion of bookings come from agents. His guess: people like to research trips themselves, and an agent cannot judge how good a rental is or how appealing the surrounding area might be.
Uber's chief financial officer, Balaji Krishnamurthy, offered a plainer explanation. Booking a ride takes people about 50 seconds, which leaves little for an agent to trim.
Users made a similar case on Reddit. One highly upvoted comment said that deciding what you feel like doing or eating is fun, and that few people want to become "hyper-efficient at having fun". Another asked whether telling an agent you are hungry and want pizza under $30 beats simply opening the DoorDash app.
Booking looks like a poor showcase for agents. These apps are already tuned to finish in seconds, and the part a person might enjoy, the choosing, is the part an agent would take over. The case for agents is stronger for long, dull jobs that sprawl across many sites, which is a different pitch from a ride or a pizza.
Demand may not be the only brake. The Wall Street Journal reports that United Airlines is banning AI bots from booking flights, so some sellers are closing the door as well. If users are lukewarm and businesses are wary, the open question is which consumer transaction agents are supposed to win first.