Uber Cuts 10% of Customer Service Staff in AI Efficiency Push

Uber cut 10% of its customer service jobs on Wednesday, marking the first time the company has tied layoffs directly to an artificial intelligence (AI) efficiency push. The reductions hit Ubers community operations team. Remote workers on the team were also told to relocate to a hub office under the companys return-to-office mandate. Why Uber Is Cutting Support Roles Megha Yethatika, Ubers vice president of global community operations, told her division that the organization had become too complex and siloed. She said the team had made progress with AI but needed a cleaner foundation to build on, according to a memo reported by Bloomberg. We cannot scale frontier technology on top of fragmented processes, Yethatika said. According to an Uber spokesperson, the company seeks to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to embrace AI. The cut is Ubers second round of reductions in under two months. In June, the company trimmed 23% of its people division, under 1% of its 34,000 global workers, after a new president took charge. Uber said in May it would slow hiring because of internal AI use. However, it still lists more than 500 open roles, including engineers for its robotaxi partnerships. Uber Joins a Widening 2026 Layoff Wave Ubers move mirrors a broader shift across the job market. AI was cited in 101,743 US job cut announcements through June, roughly 23% of the total, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. AI has led all stated reasons for layoffs for four straight months.Yet the impact of AI on jobs remains contested. Jeff Bezos recently dismissed concerns that AI would displace jobs, arguing that the technology will reshape household economics and create labor scarcity.