Group update

The Prosus AI Team, in partnership with the Brazilian delivery giant iFood, is excited to announce that it's one of the first companies conducting tests with OpenAI’s new Realtime API powered by GPT-4o. iFood is using OpenAI’s new AI-powered voice model to transform the delivery experience both for customers, who will be able to place orders more conveniently, and also drivers, who will have better support during their work routine.

Realtime API powers an experience that l exhibits minimal lag time, an incredibly natural voice and conversational nuance akin to that of a human. It uses pauses and context-based emotion, such as laughing in response to jokes, to provide smooth and engaging interactions. Testing has shown that this level of realism leads to conversations that customers and drivers actually want to have and creates a meaningful improvement in the overall food delivery experience.

The first tests were conducted by the iFood Drivers Experience team that used the voice model to “add” a voice-layer into Jhow, the AI assistant that supports delivery drivers while working. Instead of having to type, drivers were able to talk to the assistant and ask questions about various topics related to their role, like accepting and completing deliveries, setting criteria for better performance in the app, best times to work and much more.

More than 100 real audio tests were conducted in Portuguese and initial feedback is very promising. Among the advantages pointed out by drivers is the ease of interaction with the tool, quick response time and the convenience of using it on rainy days, for example. As a next step, the Drivers Experience team will conduct further tests before releasing a beta version to be used in the field.

iFood is also aiming to use the new OpenAI model to transform how customers interact with the app. The goal is to bring more convenience to their daily lives and allow customers to use voice to choose their favorite dish, customize their order, such as removing or adding ingredients, select options available in the app, such as free delivery or payment method, and even setting a budget for that order. Then, the app assistant will search the entire database of restaurants available within the delivery radius and present the best options according to the presented criteria

The first tests were conducted internally, in Portuguese, by the iFood AI team and the voice orders - from the first message to checkout - took an average of one minute to be completed. The next phase will involve testing the tool with real customers before considering a full launch for the company’s 55 million active users.

Thiago Silva, Director of Partnerships & Open Innovation at iFood, said: “iFood sees technology as a means to improve people's lives and make relationships in its ecosystem increasingly productive. This approach allows us to explore new territories and opportunities for innovation, keeping us always ahead. Our work with OpenAI is an important step towards what we call the experience of the future. Moreover, the new tool makes us even more inclusive, serving people with literacy deficits, difficulties with foreign language terms, or even reduced vision.”

Euro Beinat, Global Head of AI and Data Science at Prosus Group, said: “Our work with OpenAI and iFood shows how AI is addressing real-world challenges that businesses like iFood face every day. AI technology is constantly evolving and improving and Prosus is acutely focused on leveraging this innovation to benefit our ecommerce businesses, which operate in more than 100 countries. The speed and scale at which we are deploying AI across our portfolio is testament to the world-class team and AI-first culture Prosus has built over the past six years.”