I asked AI to book dinner. It made me want to use the app instead

Opinion I asked AI to book dinner. It made me want to use the app instead ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini may be aces at coding, but they’re less than magical when it comes to booking a table for three. By Ben Patterson Senior Writer, PCWorld Apr 28, 2026 6:00 am PDT Image: Ben Patterson/Foundry I can clearly see the day when we’ll be able to summon ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini on our phones, say something like “Hey ChatGPT, book a table for two at Outback Steakhouse tonight at 8,” and ChatGPT will simply take care of it. But that day isn’t today. All of the big AI providers are busy unveiling integrations for everyday services ranging from Spotify and DoorDash to AllTrails and the dinner reservation app Resy, with varying degrees of success. Anthropic’s Claude is the latest example. Aside from Resy, Claude’s other new “connectors” include lifestyle-oriented tools like Audible, Booking.com, Instacart, Intuit TurboTax, Spotify, and Taskrabbit. ChatGPT has its own set of app integrations, including Expedia, Door Dash, Zillow, and Canva, while Gemini’s list of “extensions” includes Google Maps, YouTube Music, and Spotify. All these various integrations allow ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to integrate directly with these services using “tool calls”—that is, structured requests (like “get_weather” or “query_database”) that allows the AI model to get out of its chatbox and actually do something in the real world. So when an AI provider like ChatGPT or Claude announces an integration or “connection” for Spotify or Resy, it means the companies have teamed up to develop specific tool calls for the app in question. ChatGPT’s Spotify tool calls, for example, include functions like “add_to_library,” “get_auth_token,” “fetch_tracks,” “get_currently_playing,” and “remove_from_library,” along with instructions for the model on when and how to use the tool call (“only invoke this tool when the user explicitly asks what is currently playing.” You can see the details for yourself when browsing a specific integration in ChatGPT’s Settings > Apps menu. window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-stream-pcworld',container: 'taboola-mid-article-thumbnails',placement: 'Mid Article Thumbnails',target_type: 'mix'}); These kinds of tool call-based integrations for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are common because they’re reasonably safe and easy to control, exposing the AI to only those app functions that are explicitly defined by the app developers. But depending on the service in question, they can also be clunky, cumbersome, and harder to interact with than simply firing up the app yourself, and that’s certainly the case with Resy. I went ahead and connected Resy to my Claude account (just go to Customize > Connectors and add the Resy integration), and then had a pleasant chat with Claude about where to eat near my Midtown Manhattan apartment (table for three, maybe around 6:30 pm), and Claude made a pretty solid pick (The Smith on Second Avenue; I’ve been there, and yum). “OK, Claude, book me a table,” I asked. “The Smith is on Resy,” Claude replied. “Let me pull up tonight’s availability for 3!” The next thing I knew, there was a big chunk of JSON (basically computer code) in the chatbox, with the heading “Claude wants to use display_resy_restaurant_availabilites_app from Resy” and big “Always allow” and “Deny” buttons. (Those buttons will be familiar to regular users of Claude Code, allowing you to approve or block pending…

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