Uber exhausted its full-year artificial intelligence budget in just four months in 2026, prompting the company to question whether its investments are delivering substantial returns. President and Chief Operating Officer Andrew MacDonald pointed out that no direct correlation has been found between the surge in Claude Code token usage and the launch of practical user-facing features, making it difficult to confirm a connection at present, though he believes it will gradually become clearer in the future. In 2025, Uber's R&D investment reached $3.4 billion, up 9% year-on-year. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi previously stated that the company is addressing rising AI investments by scaling back hiring. MacDonald said the company needs to weigh the relationship between token usage, associated costs, and staffing levels, noting that this balancing act will become harder to justify if investments cannot be proven to translate into practical features and services delivered to users.