Uber Technologies Inc. fired 23% [1] of its People and Places staff, which includes human resources and recruiting teams.
The move signals a shift in internal management as the company attempts to streamline its corporate structure. While many tech firms are currently cutting staff to fund AI initiatives, Uber denied that automation played a role in these specific reductions.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the changes are necessary to maximize the efficiency of the organization [4]. The company said the People and Places division had become too complex and fragmented [1]. Despite the percentage of the department affected, the cuts represent less than 1% [5] of Uber's total workforce of 34,000 [3].
These reductions follow an executive reshuffle involving new President Jill Hazelbaker. Hazelbaker said the company is reshaping the organization from the inside [6].
A spokesperson for Uber said AI did not factor into the layoffs [7]. This statement comes despite the company's heavy internal use of the technology. Approximately 95% [8] of Uber engineers use AI tools monthly, and the company exhausted its annual AI coding budget in just four months [9].
Uber is headquartered in San Francisco, California, where it manages its global operations [5]. The company has not specified if further cuts will occur in other departments as part of the restructuring led by Hazelbaker and Khosrowshahi.
“"These changes are necessary to maximize the efficiency of our organization."”
The layoffs suggest that Uber is prioritizing organizational leaness over aggressive headcount growth in its administrative sectors. By distancing these cuts from AI, the company is attempting to avoid the narrative that it is replacing human HR functions with automation, even as its engineering department adopts AI at a rapid pace. This internal restructuring likely reflects a transition from a high-growth phase to a more disciplined operational phase under new leadership.
