AI spending is getting 'harder to justify' says Uber president

Andrew Macdonald says increased AI spending hasn't directly led to production boosts.

Rideshare and food delivery company Uber has been a heavy investor in AI as of late, but it doesn’t seem to be translating to the production and delivery increases that it expected. President Andrew Macdonald has stated that Uber’s AI spending is becoming “harder to justify” given its results, or lack thereof.

Andrew Macdonald was being interviewed by Rapid Response when he talked about his company’s role in the AI business. “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,’” he said during the chat, as reported by The Verge. “And so if you’re not actually able to draw a direct line to how much, you know, useful features and functionality you’re shipping to your users, that trade becomes harder to justify.”

Uber, like many companies in the tech space, has latched onto AI as it seeks financial growth. The company spent $3.4 billion on AI in 2025, and earlier this month, CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga stated that the company had already burned through the entirety of its 2026 AI budget.

The cost of AI has become an increasingly large talking point as we start to see the results of all the increased spending among major tech companies over the past few years. To keep up with how AI is affecting the tech industry, stick with Shacknews.

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