Uber president Andrew Macdonald says the company is struggling to see a direct return on its massive AI spending, as rising token consumption from tools like Claude Code hasn't translated into more useful consumer features.
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<img alt="Andrew Macdonald, president of Uber Technologies Inc., at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. The annual tech conference runs from Nov. 10-13. Photographer: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg via Getty Images" data-caption="Uber president Andrew Macdonald (pictured) says its “hard to draw a line” between AI spending and deliverable features. | Photo: Zed Jameson/<em>Bloomberg</em> via Getty Images" data-portal-copyright="Photo: Zed Jameson/<em>Bloomberg</em> via Getty Images" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/gettyimages-2245764686.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" />
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Uber president Andrew Macdonald (pictured) says its “hard to draw a line” between AI spending and deliverable features. | Photo: Zed Jameson/<em>Bloomberg</em> via Getty Images </figcaption>
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<p class="has-text-align-none">After reportedly exhausting its annual AI budget just four months into 2026, Uber is now questioning whether it's actually seeing meaningful returns on its investments. In <a href="https://youtu.be/y_mQ6xLcKyc?si=9ikbyIi6YlzFOwIX&t=1674">an interview with <em>Rapid Response</em></a>, Uber president and chief operating officer Andrew Macdonald said the company isn't seeing a connection between rising token consumption for Claude Code and more useful features being delivered to consumers.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-none">"That link is not there yet, right? I think maybe implicitly there is more that is getting shipped, but it's very hard to draw a line between one of those stats and, 'Okay, now we're actually producing 25 percent more useful consumer f …</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/transportation/937116/uber-ai-investment-hard-to-justify">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>
# Uber president says AI spending is getting ‘harder to justify’
Source: [https://www.theverge.com/transportation/937116/uber-ai-investment-hard-to-justify](https://www.theverge.com/transportation/937116/uber-ai-investment-hard-to-justify)
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Jess Weatherbed
is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture\. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews\.
After reportedly exhausting its annual AI budget just four months into 2026, Uber is now questioning whether it’s actually seeing meaningful returns on its investments\. In[an interview with*Rapid Response*](https://youtu.be/y_mQ6xLcKyc?si=9ikbyIi6YlzFOwIX&t=1674), Uber president and chief operating officer Andrew Macdonald said the company isn’t seeing a connection between rising token consumption for Claude Code and more useful features being delivered to consumers\.
“That link is not there yet, right? I think maybe implicitly there is more that is getting shipped, but it’s very hard to draw a line between one of those stats and, ‘Okay, now we’re actually producing 25 percent more useful consumer features,’” said Macdonald\. “I think over the coming quarters and years, maybe that will become clearer, but I think today it’s hard, even if some of the underlying metrics are trending in a really astronomical direction\.”
Uber spent $3\.4 billion on research and development efforts in 2025, 9 percent more than it had spent the previous year\. Earlier this month, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company was making up for its increasing AI investments by[hiring fewer human employees](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uber-ceo-says-company-slowing-134215587.html)\.
“We’re going to have to start talking about token consumption and the associated cost versus headcount,” said Macdonald\. “So if you’re not actually able to draw a direct line to how much useful features and functionality you’re shipping to your users, that trade becomes harder to justify\.”
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- Jess Weatherbed
Uber COO Andrew Macdonald says the company is finding it harder to justify AI token spending as higher usage hasn't translated into proportional consumer features, highlighting a growing corporate skepticism toward AI investment.
Uber’s CTO admits the company has already blown its 2026 AI budget by April, as widespread adoption of Claude Code and internal AI agents drives token-based costs far above projections.
Uber has implemented a monthly $1,500 cap per employee on AI coding tools like Claude Code and Cursor after exceeding its annual AI budget in just four months, highlighting growing AI cost concerns and ROI questions across the tech industry.
Uber's CEO and COO express caution about AI spending, noting that increased AI usage does not clearly translate to better customer outcomes, leading to slowed hiring and tighter budget controls.