Uber caps employee spending on artificial intelligence after going over budget in four months

AI has become expensive, and some companies are scaling back its use in an attempt to cut costs. This group includes Uber, which recently set internal usage caps as a way to reduce its costly spending on artificial intelligence.

Bloomberg reports that the company has instituted a new rule that sets a monthly limit of $1,500 per employee and per proxy encryption tool, including Anthropic’s Claude Code, or Cursor. Usage can be tracked through an internal dashboard that every employee can access, although — in some cases — caps can be exceeded with permission, the company says.

This news probably isn’t too surprising, because in April, the company’s CTO revealed that the ride-sharing giant had exhausted its entire annual AI budget within four months. This appears to have happened after Uber encouraged employees to use AI “as much as possible,” and even ranked their internal use competitively on internal leaderboards, The Information previously reported.

Uber CEO Andrew McDonald also recently cast doubt on AI’s impact on productivity, noting during a podcast appearance that it’s “very difficult to draw a line” between the use of AI and new consumer features.

Uber’s downsizing raises a broader issue the tech industry is currently facing: As companies pour money into AI, where exactly is the return on investment? In fact, AI ROI has so far been largely a theoretical phenomenon, and everyone hopes it will eventually materialize — although some companies are clearly feeling a little nervous while they wait.