Story
Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'
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Overview
Uber has exhausted its annual AI budget four months into 2026 and is questioning the returns on its investments. The company's president, Andrew Macdonald, stated there is no clear connection between increased token consumption for Claude Code and the delivery of more useful features to consumers.
Summary from theverge.com.
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Hacker News · theverge.com
Hacker News discussion ↗
Historical count: 5 · 5 saved in sample · Historical sample
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Based on 5 sampled comments from this thread. Analyzed 2026-05-26.
- Praise: AI coding tools have the potential to significantly accelerate feature development, as evidenced by a team completing extensive UI tests in just a week with AI assistance.
- Praise: The ability to iterate faster on features through AI could lead to more informed decisions about user preferences, enhancing overall product development.
- Concern: The sustainability of AI spending is questionable, as companies struggle to demonstrate tangible productivity improvements in quarterly results.
- Concern: There is skepticism about whether increased code output will translate to actual revenue growth, especially for mature applications like Uber's.