<\/p>\n
Uber<\/a>\u00a0is reportedly cutting 23% of its \u201cPeople\u201d division, continuing a string of tech layoffs.<\/p>\n In a memo to employees\u00a0viewed<\/a>\u00a0by CNBC Wednesday (June 3), Uber CEO\u00a0Dara Khosrowshahi<\/a>\u00a0said the \u201cchanges are necessary to maximize the effectiveness of the People team and the enormous potential ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n The People operation serves as Uber\u2019s recruitment human resources arm. A spokesperson for the company told CNBC that the cuts applied to under 1% of Uber\u2019s 34,000-person workforce.<\/p>\n The report also cited a note to the affected teams from Uber President\u00a0Jill Hazelbaker<\/a>, who said the layoffs are meant to foster a \u201cmore connected, modern, operationally excellent organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Some parts of the company have become \u201ccomplex and fragmented, with overlapping responsibilities, unclear ownership, and teams operating too far from the businesses and partners they support,\u201d\u00a0added Hazelbaker, a recent addition to Uber.<\/p>\n With these cuts, Uber joins a growing list of companies\u00a0laying off workers<\/a>\u00a0recently. Many of these companies have cited the benefit of embracing artificial intelligence (AI) automation. Uber is not one of these, though it is wrestling with rising AI costs.<\/p>\n A report this week from Bloomberg News said the company has begun limiting workers employees to $1,500 in monthly token spending per AI coding tool.<\/p>\n The limits apply only to agentic coding software, and is on a per-tool basis, meaning employees can spend $1,500 on each different tool. The report said Uber gives employees a dashboard that lets them track their use and ask permission to go over the limits.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think this is all a pretty straightforward way to responsibly encourage agentic AI adoption and experimentation at scale across the company,\u201d an Uber spokesperson told Bloomberg.<\/p>\n The change came after Uber reportedly exhausted its annual AI budget in a matter of months. Other companies said to have\u00a0imposed employee AI limits<\/a>\u00a0include\u00a0Walmart<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Microsoft<\/a>.<\/p>\n