By now most people have discovered the joy of asking AI highly specific logistical questions. From the best route from Detroit to New York to a celiac‑friendly seafood restaurant in Boston, people rely on AI for precise answers. Debby Soo, CEO of Open Table, highlighted this trend.

Open Table, now a Booking Holdings brand, launched in 1998. Founder Chuck Templeton invented the platform after watching his wife make multiple calls to book dinner. Early on the startup installed hardware in restaurants so customers could book digitally.

Today, Soo must meet consumers and restaurants wherever they are, as restaurant goers increasingly use AI searches. She also competes against rivals like Yelp and Resy in a cutthroat space, so she is pushing AI behind all functions and holding employees accountable for learning it.

The days of brown‑bag lunches and AI experiments are gone. Employees now receive agents and must hit role‑specific AI usage goals. Soo wants AI to scale the number of restaurants—over 70,000—served without expanding the roughly 1,400‑person staff. Open Table maintains a dedicated AI‑tool building team, and every team member is tasked with identifying tasks that could be automated.