--- title: "Dinner Is a Weak Test of Whether People Want AI Agents" canonical: "https://current.tinyfish.ai/issue/54/market-pulse/article/61541/dinner-is-a-weak-test-of-whether-people" publication: "TinyFish" publisher: "TinyFish" language: "en-US" guide: "https://current.tinyfish.ai/llms.txt" author: "Sevda Polat" author_url: "https://current.tinyfish.ai/team/200" issue: 54 section: "market-pulse" section_name: "Market Pulse" published: 2026-11-05 word_count: 223 source_links: 0 --- # Dinner Is a Weak Test of Whether People Want AI Agents *By [Sevda Polat]()* *November 5, 2026* [Read on the website]() Uber and DoorDash have now counted the food orders that AI agents placed for customers. These agents are software that carries out a purchase on a person's behalf. Both totals are in the hundreds. Read quickly, that sounds like weak demand for delegation. I would read it as a weak test. Dinner already works. An app built for the job gets food to the door in a few taps, so an agent has almost nothing to rescue. The need for help shows up where the existing path breaks down: the insurance appeal left unfiled, the refund nobody chased, the benefits form a daughter completes after her own workday. Nobody has measured delegation there yet. - **Uber, Halloween week:** about 500 agent-placed Uber Eats orders. The 320 million trips reported alongside them combine rides and deliveries, so they can't show an agent share. - **DoorDash:** "several hundred" agent orders, with no time period given. Only a small group of test partners had access, mostly for office lunches. - **What management says:** both companies call it early. DoorDash's CEO expects bigger, considered purchases to suit agents better. The counts don't test that view. - **Abandoned errands (2019 survey):** 24.4% of insured adults aged 18–64 delayed or skipped needed care because of paperwork. - **Caregivers (2024 survey):** 26% want more help with paperwork and benefit applications. ## More - [Market Pulse — Issue 54]() - [Issue 54]() - [Publication guide]()