Uber has laid off 10% of its customer service staff, marking the first time the company has directly tied job cuts to advances in artificial intelligence. The reductions hit the community operations team, and remote workers were told they must relocate to a hub office under a return-to-office mandate.
Why the cuts happened
Megha Yethatika, Uber's VP of global community operations, said the organization had become 'too complex and siloed' and that AI progress needed a cleaner foundation. The layoffs are part of a broader push to simplify operations and strengthen in-person collaboration, according to a company spokesperson. Uber also said it continues to embrace AI across its business.
The AI factor
This is Uber's second round of reductions in under two months. In June, it trimmed 23% of its people division, which affected less than 1% of global workers. The company said in May it would slow hiring because of internal AI use, though it still lists more than 20,000 open roles, including engineers for robotaxi partnerships. Nationally, AI was cited in roughly 101,500 US job cut announcements through June, about 23% of all layoffs, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. AI has led all stated reasons for layoffs for four straight months.
Despite the cuts, Uber continues to hire. The company still lists more than 500 open roles, including engineers for robotaxi partnerships. But the shift toward AI-driven efficiency raises questions about which roles will survive. Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, recently dismissed concerns that AI would displace jobs, arguing the technology will reshape household economics and create labor scarcity. Uber's own moves suggest a more immediate impact on customer service roles.
