Just Eat's AI Assistant Tackles 'Menu Anxiety' - But Does It Remove Too Much Human Choice?
This week, the food delivery giant Just Eat unveiled a groundbreaking AI voice assistant designed to help users navigate the often overwhelming decision of what to order for dinner. Marketed as a solution to "menu anxiety" and "choice overload," this technology represents the latest step in the evolution of convenience, but it also prompts deeper questions about our relationship with food and decision-making.
The Evolution of Dinner: From Cooking to Algorithmic Choice
Preparing dinner was once considered the primary challenge. The advent of takeaways represented a shift, allowing people to bypass cooking entirely. This evolved further with delivery apps like Just Eat, which brought food directly to our doors without the need for human interaction. Now, with the introduction of an AI voice assistant, even the mental effort of choosing what to eat is being automated.
Just Eat's chief technology officer, Mert Öztekin, describes this development as a "major step forward" in making their service more intuitive and accessible. The assistant allows users to verbally describe their cravings, whether specific or vague, and receive tailored recommendations. For instance, a request for "something healthy but filling" might steer users towards salad chains or protein bowls, while indecisive prompts could lead to suggestions like a vegan burger or lighter options.
Testing the AI: How Does It Perform in Practice?
In practical tests, the assistant functions more like educated guesswork than a mind-reading concierge. When asked for a healthy, substantial meal, it often defaults to familiar, data-rich options such as established salad chains or juice bars. In one trial, a request for something substantial but unspecified resulted in a recommendation for Thunderbird Fried Chicken, highlighting how the algorithm interprets terms like "vegan" as shorthand for health rather than a strict dietary preference.
Just Eat argues that this technology "cuts through the noise" of thousands of blurring options, especially during busy weeknights. However, this framing may oversimplify the underlying issue. Menu anxiety is not merely about too many choices; it reflects broader uncertainties in modern food culture, where conflicting health advice, cost-of-living pressures, and an obsession with optimisation leave many distrusting their own instincts.
The Broader Implications: What Does It Mean to Outsource Desire?
There is a quiet absurdity in outsourcing food cravings to a machine that has never tasted, smelled, or experienced hunger. Ultra-processed foods eliminate cooking effort, delivery apps remove access barriers, and now AI aims to erase decision-making. If takeaways were already a shortcut, this development suggests we now seek a shortcut to that shortcut.
This is not necessarily about laziness but exhaustion. With work encroaching on personal time and food choices laden with nutritional, emotional, and moral weight, handing decisions to an AI might feel like relief. For users with accessibility needs, language barriers, or cognitive overload, such tools could be genuinely beneficial. Just Eat emphasises the feature's inclusivity, which is an important consideration.
Algorithms and Influence: Shaping Preferences Beyond Reflection
However, there is a critical distinction between aiding navigation and normalising choice as a problem. Algorithms do not merely reflect preferences; they shape them. Recommendation systems tend to favour:
- Predictable, repeatable options
- Chain restaurants over independents
- Familiar dishes that perform well within platform ecosystems
Ultra-processed foods, optimised for consistency and convenience, thrive in such environments. While Just Eat does not claim its AI promotes healthier choices, it prioritises speed and ease. Traditional intuition is built through experience—cooking, tasting, and sharing meals. When replaced by algorithmic suggestions based on past orders or popular trends, intuition risks becoming mere habit with sophisticated branding.
Looking Ahead: Where Does This Convenience Trend Lead?
The launch of Just Eat's assistant marks a subtle shift in authority. The voice guiding our food choices lacks sensory experience, relying solely on data from past decisions. This raises provocative questions about the future:
- Could algorithmic sommeliers or table-side prompts become commonplace in restaurants?
- Might "what's for dinner?" eventually be answered by digital assistants like Siri rather than personal cravings?
- What do we lose when eating becomes another decision optimised out of existence?
Menu anxiety serves as a headline, but it masks a more uncomfortable reality: many people no longer trust themselves to answer basic human questions without technological aid. While AI may simplify dinner choices in the short term, it is worth considering whether convenience, intended to reclaim time, is instead removing us from the very act of choosing what and how we eat. As we embrace these innovations, balancing efficiency with human agency remains a crucial challenge.
