Uber Says 2026 AI Spend Is Harder to Justify as Token Use Fails to Lift Features
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · May 25
Uber Says 2026 AI Spend Is Harder to Justify as Token Use Fails to Lift Features
2 articles · Updated · Business Insider · May 25
Uber COO Andrew Macdonald said the company is struggling to justify AI spending because heavier token usage has not produced a clear rise in useful consumer features.
A viral April remark from Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga that Uber had already exhausted its 2026 Claude Code budget triggered internal debate over token consumption and trade-offs including head count.
Macdonald said talks with senior engineering leaders failed to show a direct link between AI usage and outcomes such as shipping 25% more customer-facing features, making the costs harder to defend.
Uber is already acting on that pressure: CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said earlier this month the company was slowing hiring to offset AI investment, even as some firms back away from pushing AI use for its own sake.
With AI budgets for 2026 already spent, is the industry's AI gold rush finally facing a reality check?
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