Almost no one uses AI agents to book their Uber, company says

During its busiest week last quarter, Uber said only four people booked a ride using an AI agent. Very few people are using personal AI agents to order Ubers, apparently. On the transportation giant’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, the company said that only four rides were ordered through an AI agent during its busiest week in October: the week of Halloween. While more people used an AI agent to order food through its delivery service, Uber Eats, the volume was still fairly small compared to the overall number of trips. Uber’s chief financial officer, Balaji Krishnamurthy, told Wall Street analysts on the call that the company handled around 320 million trips and orders across Uber and Uber Eats during the week of Halloween, but only 500 Uber Eats orders were placed by an AI agent.

“It is very, very early and very limited traction that we are seeing so far,” said CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, referring to the low number of orders placed by AI agents. “Listen, we hope that there will be more traction.” The surprisingly low numbers of AI-initiated transactions come amid growing hype for a new wave of AI agents that don’t just answer questions but also handle tasks on users’ behalf. There’s been an explosion of personal AI startups, including one of the buzziest, Instinct, which