DoorDash’s new chatbot lets you order using prompts and photos

DoorDash announced Thursday that it will launch a new AI-powered chatbot that lets users order food and groceries through text prompts and images in its latest version of AI.

The chatbot, called “Ask DoorDash,” allows users to search the app for what they are looking for in their own words instead of having to scroll through restaurants and stores to create a shopping cart. You can tell the chatbot what works for you, share a link to a recipe to find items, or a description of the reservation you’re looking for.

“Traditional search works best when you know exactly which restaurant or table you’re looking for,” DoorDash wrote in a blog post. “Ask DoorDash is designed for the moments when you don’t need to.”

Food delivery apps and tech giants are betting that artificial intelligence can help make shopping more conversational and personalized, as companies race to make AI assistants a standard part of daily life. In February, Uber Easts launched an AI-powered “shopping cart assistant,” while Instacart launched an AI-powered shopping assistant that grocery stores can offer to their customers.

The DoorDash app can create your own grocery cart based on a photo from a cookbook, a photo of your grocery list, or a recipe. DoorDash will then add all the items and their correct quantities to your cart. It will ask users to check if they already have staples like sugar and butter, so they don’t buy something they already have.

You can also ask the chatbot to reorder your latest grocery cart or suggest new items based on your previous orders, DoorDash says.

As for ordering food, you can tell the chatbot that you want a “full dinner for a family of 4.” The app will then display the restaurants along with a personalized ad explaining why they match your search. You can narrow the results further with a query like “Show me kid-friendly vegan places with lighter options.”

Once you select a location, you can ask DoorDash to create a cart with suggestions based on your food preferences, budget, group size or previous orders.

Using Ask DoorDash for reservations, users can ask the chatbot to find “a table for two downtown for a date night dinner around 8 p.m.” The app will then display the restaurants with their availability. You can improve the results further by ordering something more intimate.

The chatbot is rolling out on iOS in select areas for restaurant searches, grocery shopping, and within DoorDash reservations. The company says it will reach more users across the United States in the coming weeks.