As AI becomes more expensive, some companies are scaling back their use to cut costs. Uber is among them, recently imposing internal limits to reduce its skyrocketing AI spending.
As AI becomes more expensive, some companies are scaling back their use to cut costs. Uber is among them, recently imposing internal limits to reduce its skyrocketing AI spending.
Uber has introduced a new rule: the limit for using AI tools for writing code (such as Anthropic’s Claude Code or Cursor) is now $1,500 per month per developer. Employees can monitor their spending through an internal dashboard, TechCrunch reports .
At the same time, the company adds that in special cases, these restrictions can be circumvented, but only with special permission.
Ultimately, the news didn’t come as a surprise: back in April, the company’s CTO admitted that employees had blown their entire annual budget on AI in just four months. This was due to Uber’s management actively encouraging staff to use AI “to the fullest” and even conducting internal ratings to fuel the spirit of competition among employees.
Uber COO Andrew McDonald also recently expressed doubts about the impact of AI on productivity. Speaking on a podcast, he said that it’s “very difficult to draw a clear line” between the use of AI and the introduction of new features for users.
