Ubers COO says its getting harder to justify the money spent on AI tokenmaxxing
4 hours ago
- #AI costs
- #technology investment
- #corporate strategy
- Uber operations chief Andrew Macdonald said it's becoming harder to justify AI costs, as higher token usage doesn't proportionally increase useful consumer features.
- Uber's CTO previously went viral for commenting that the company had already blown through its 2026 Claude Code budget, sparking internal discussions on AI trade-offs like head count.
- CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted Uber is slowing hiring to offset AI investments, with Macdonald adding that while AI may seem free to users, the company ultimately pays the bill.
- Some companies, like Duolingo, are reversing policies that tied AI usage to performance reviews, citing misalignment with actual outcomes after employee pushback.