Uber Expands AI Use at Work, Some Employees Say AI Is Taking Over Their Jobs

According to Business Insider, Uber has woven AI into many parts of its employees' work, from answering internal questions on Slack to writing replies for customer service messages during rides. Six recently laid-off employees said AI use has clearly expanded over the past few months, with some using prompts to let AI handle a large share of their tasks.

Earlier this month, Uber cut about 3,300 jobs. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the layoffs were mainly to reduce management layers and did not list AI as a reason. But employees say Uber is also expanding AI use. One laid-off worker said managers increasingly asked staff to use Gemini and ChatGPT to prepare for client meetings.

Uber deployed an AI chatbot called Genie in many internal Slack channels to quickly answer employee questions based on internal documents. Another customer service employee used Glean to handle driver and rider help requests, often copying and pasting generated answers directly.

Other employees faced the opposite instruction, with managers warning them not to let AI do their work for them. One laid-off employee said that compared with other tech companies, Uber has been relatively restrained in adopting AI, offering dedicated Q&A time to explain what AI can and cannot do.