Doordash: Difference between revisions

With many menus, consumers expect an accurate description of what they are ordering along with the ingredients that are being used to make it. In recent years companies have started relying on AI to generate a description and a complimentary photo of what the dish should look like. But in many cases this was done to falsely advertise to boost sales. We can look to an earlier instance during the lock down when ghost kitchens were popular;<blockquote>"Ghost kitchens are allegedly using AI-generated images on food delivery sites such as GrubHub and DoorDash. The images are used to promote online orders from kitchens that solely sell their food via online delivery services. Rather than using real photographers, they are using images of food that do not exist."<ref name=":11" /></blockquote>Of which many delivered products that did not match the item description at all or was poorer quality than what was shown to them within ordering. Not to mention in many countries<blockquote>"there are firm advertising laws that state exactly what you have to show and what can be substituted in food photography. This helps protect consumers, making sure they get what they order."<ref name=":11" /></blockquote>Meaning when generating a picture of food it is not considered edible by many countries standards and may even be illegal. But industries are constantly changing; custom diffusion models being packaged like Swipeby to provide cheap alternatives to make selling menu items at a higher volume.<blockquote>"The company points to a survey from Snappr, a photography and visual content platform, that found high-quality food photos can increase orders on restaurant delivery apps by 35%."<ref name=":12" /></blockquote>By seeing the results that such a tool can provide shows how pressing it can be for other businesses to compete if they are not also resorting to the same measures. During this time Doordash had policies about having generative photos for menu items; the founder however thinks things will change soon as he said "Give it six months, that will change,” he says. “I will bet money on it. Because with AI generation right now, it makes so much sense."<ref name=":12" />

And as of 2025 Doordash has launched it's own tool for generating AI menus on it's platform which is able to generate descriptions and pictures of an item being listed.<blockquote>''“At DoorDash, we believe AI should make life easier for restaurants—not more complicated. It’s about using automation to enhance the guest experience while keeping the operator’s unique touch front and center,” said Arpit Dhariwal, Head of Product, Merchant Acquisition & Growth at DoorDash. “AI-powered tools are built to take everyday tasks off operators’ plates, allowing restaurants to focus on what matters most—delivering great food and service. We're excited to help drive more orders, save time, and support continued growth for our restaurant partners.”''</blockquote>As we have seen earlier higher profit margins has caught Doordash's attention. Since they also make more money from users seeing results that may resemble the food that will be ordered as a first result. However this tool can be used nefariously like how ghost kitchens used it to falsely advertise the quality and resemblance of the food being shown to the consumers of the app. It may be important to exercise caution from now on against actors that would leverage this tool against the consumer especially since there seems to be nothing in place to warn the consumer that the current item that is being viewed was generated by their AI tool. This leaves an extremely high risk that a consumer may be unsatisfied with an order because it did not match the description or the photo being listed on Doordash.