Uber cuts 10 per cent of customer service roles as AI reshapes workforce

San Francisco: Uber Technologies has cut around 10 per cent of roles in its customer service operations, becoming one of the latest technology companies to explicitly link layoffs to the growing use of artificial intelligence.

The company confirmed on Wednesday that the reductions were made within its community operations team. Alongside the layoffs, employees in the division who had been working remotely have also been asked to relocate to one of Uber’s hub offices as part of its return-to-office policy.

In a statement, an Uber spokesperson said the company is working “to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to embrace AI”.

The move marks the first time Uber has directly connected job cuts to productivity gains from AI. It is also the company’s second round of workforce reductions in under two months as it continues to streamline its organisational structure.

According to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, Uber vice president of global community operations Megha Yethadka said the existing structure had become increasingly difficult to manage.

“Our organization has become too complex and siloed,” Uber Technologies vice president of global community operations Megha Yethadka wrote in the memo.

She added that while the team had made progress in deploying AI, the company first needed a more efficient operating structure before it could fully benefit from the technology.

“We cannot scale frontier technology on top of fragmented processes,” Uber Technologies vice president of global community operations Megha Yethadka said.

The announcement follows another restructuring in June, when Uber reduced its people division by 23 per cent, affecting fewer than 1 per cent of its roughly 34,000 global employees after a leadership change. The company has not disclosed the size of its customer service workforce.

Even as it trims parts of its workforce, Uber continues to hire in areas tied to its future growth. The company had already indicated in May that it would slow overall hiring because of increasing internal use of AI. However, it is still recruiting for more than 500 open positions, including engineering roles supporting its expanding robotaxi partnerships.

Uber’s latest move reflects a broader shift across the technology industry, where AI is increasingly being cited as a reason for restructuring rather than weaker demand or slowing business performance.

Recent months have seen companies including Block and Oracle Corporation reference AI while announcing workforce reductions. On Wednesday, Amazon also cut jobs within its artificial general intelligence division, adding to a series of smaller layoffs since its larger restructuring earlier this year.

As companies race to integrate AI into everyday operations, the technology is no longer just changing how work gets done. It is increasingly determining how many people are needed to do it.