Uber president says AI spending is getting harder to justify

Uber president says AI spending is getting ‘harder to justify’

Uber president Andrew Macdonald said the company exhausted its 2026 AI budget in four months, while rising Claude Code token consumption has not been tied to a measurable increase in useful consumer features delivered.

Why it matters: HKR-H/K/R all pass: a senior Uber exec gives a contrarian AI-spend quote, the story has a 4-month budget-burn number, and it hits Claude Code ROI anxiety. Strong industry signal, not a model or major product launch, so it sits in 78–84.