Uber Eats Enhances Menus with AI, Rewards Users for Food Photos

Uber Eats is ushering in a wave of AI-driven upgrades aimed at making your next food delivery experience smarter and more visually appealing. The food delivery platform announced a global rollout of several new features that will use artificial intelligence to enhance restaurant menus, food imagery, and customer reviews, while also inviting users to participate more actively—potentially earning in-app credits for their contributions.

The enhancements are designed to help restaurants promote their offerings more effectively and provide customers with better insights before placing an order. Among the most notable features is the introduction of AI-generated menu descriptions and automated review summaries, allowing businesses to showcase their dishes and respond to feedback more efficiently.

Uber Eats is also leveraging generative AI to improve how food is visually presented. "Uber Eats says it’s using AI to 'detect and enhance low-quality food images' on menus," including adjustments to lighting, resolution, and framing. In some cases, the AI even goes a step further, digitally editing dishes by enhancing the plate background or filling in gaps in the food presentation. For instance, in promotional materials, items like garlic knots appeared more polished and complete thanks to these generative enhancements.

Restaurants that lack quality photos for their menu items can now rely on their own customers to help fill in the gaps. A newly launched feature enables users to upload images of their food when leaving reviews. By tapping the "add photos" option on the rate order screen, diners can submit their meal photos, and if those images are approved and published, select users in the US, UK, Canada, and Mexico may earn Uber in-app credits as a token of appreciation.

The feature isn't guaranteed to result in publication for every image submitted, but the possibility of a small reward could incentivize more diners to participate. As shown in Uber’s demo, the platform automatically reviews the submissions, and only selected images will appear on restaurant listings.

Another addition is the Live Order Chat functionality, a real-time communication tool that allows businesses to directly contact customers while an order is being prepared. This allows for last-minute clarifications on allergy concerns, customizations, or out-of-stock items—ensuring fewer surprises when the order arrives.

These new features are rolling out globally and are expected to offer customers a more transparent, accurate, and personalized ordering experience. While the prospect of AI-enhanced content brings efficiency and flair to the platform, there is still caution around its reliability. “AI-generated and manipulated content can be unpredictable, however, and we won’t know how reliable these tools are until they start appearing on menus.”

As Uber Eats ventures further into AI integration, it continues to find ways to balance innovation with user engagement, aiming to create a more visual, responsive, and rewarding delivery experience.