Uber Technologies has downsized approximately 10% of its customer service staff to align with its shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) and a more streamlined organizational setup. The reduction mainly impacts employees in Uber’s community operations division responsible for customer support. Additionally, remote workers in this division are being asked to relocate to central offices as part of Uber’s return-to-office strategy.
The restructuring at Uber is aimed at enhancing internal efficiencies and integrating AI technologies more extensively into its operations. The company’s recent internal communication highlighted challenges in leveraging advanced AI tools due to a fragmented organizational structure. This move signifies Uber’s direct link between job cuts and its AI-focused approach.
This downsizing follows a previous round of layoffs in June, where Uber trimmed about 23% of roles in its people division, affecting less than 1% of its global workforce of approximately 34,000 employees. Uber had previously hinted that the wider adoption of AI would impact its hiring pace, despite currently advertising over 500 job openings, particularly in engineering roles related to autonomous mobility and robotaxi projects.
The tech industry at large has witnessed a surge in job reductions, with more than 100,000 tech positions eliminated in the first five months of 2026. Notably, major tech players like Uber, Meta, Cloudflare, Intuit, PayPal, Cisco, Quora, and Coinbase have all announced workforce cutbacks as part of their cost optimization strategies, organizational restructuring, and increased reliance on AI technologies.
