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An artificial intelligence food assistant is being pitched as the latest solution to the nightly question: what’s for dinner?
Food delivery app Just Eat Takeaway.com is launching an AI-powered voice assistant that helps users find meals, restaurants, and even retail and pharmacy products.
The tool allows people to ask broad or specific questions, even if their requests are vague or unstructured, in more than a dozen languages, the company says.
In a promotional video, the AI assistant is shown adding all the ingredients needed to make a carbonara to a shopping basket, before suggesting nearby restaurants where the dish could be ordered instead.
The company says the feature is designed to reduce what it calls “choice overload,” the difficulty of making decisions when faced with thousands of options on a single platform.
Just Eat said that the AI’s blended interaction model, which allows users to switch between voice and touch control, could be beneficial for individuals with visual impairments or limited mobility.
Just Eat Takeaway.com is the latest food and delivery company to experiment with AI-driven assistance. Fast food chains such as Popeyes are reportedly testing AI systems in the United Kingdom, including voice technology, for drive-thru ordering.
Just Eat’s AI voice assistant is only available in the UK, but the company said there are plans to roll it out internationally later this year.
“We are harnessing the power of AI to empower everyday convenience across our entire network,” said Mert Öztekin, Just Eat’s chief technology officer.
“From intuitive customer personalisation and partner success to smarter logistics, we are embedding automation into every interaction to deliver a seamless, efficient journey that creates real value for everyone,” he added.