Uber caps employee AI tool spending to cut costs

To control rising AI costs, Uber has introduced internal spending limits. The new rule caps each employee's monthly spending on AI coding tools like Anthropic's Claude Code or Cursor at $1,500. Workers can track their usage on an internal dashboard, and exceptions require approval.

This marks a shift from Uber's earlier push for employees to "use AI as much as possible." In April, the CTO revealed the company's annual AI budget was already exhausted after just four months. COO Andrew McDonald recently questioned AI's actual productivity gains, saying it's hard to link AI use to new feature launches.

Uber's cost-cutting reflects a broader tech industry dilemma: heavy AI investment with unclear returns. Many companies are losing patience and tightening spending.