# Uber's operations chief said it was becoming harder to justify AI costs within the company.

*genai, business · news · 2026-05-25 · Business Insider*

## Key points

- Uber's operations chief admits AI spending is not yielding proportional consumer feature improvements.
- Uber had already exhausted its Claude Code AI budget for 2026 by April 2024.
- Internal discussions at Uber revealed AI token usage does not equate to product value or features.
- Duolingo has abandoned including AI usage as a performance metric after employee feedback.

**Companies:** Uber
**Countries:** United States

[Read the full story on Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-andrew-macdonald-ai-token-spending-harder-justify-2026-5)

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