Uber cut 10% of its customer service jobs on Wednesday, marking the first time the company has directly linked layoffs to an artificial intelligence (AI) efficiency initiative.

The reductions affected Uber's community operations team. Remote employees in the group were also told to move to a hub office as part of the company's return-to-office mandate.

Why Uber Is Reducing Support Roles

Megha Yethadika, Uber's vice president of global community operations, told employees in her division that the organization had become "too complex and siloed." According to a memo reported by Bloomberg, she said the team had made progress with AI but needed a cleaner operational foundation before expanding its use of the technology.

"We cannot scale frontier technology on top of fragmented processes," Yethadika said.

An Uber spokesperson said the company aims "to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to embrace AI."

The latest job cuts represent Uber's second round of reductions in less than two months. In June, the company cut 23% of its people division, amounting to less than 1% of its 34,000 global employees, after a new president took charge.

Uber said in May that it would slow hiring because of its internal use of AI. The company, however, still lists more than 500 open positions, including engineering roles tied to its robotaxi partnerships with autonomous vehicle firms such as Waymo, highlighting a split between roles being automated and those being created to build and deploy AI systems.

Uber Joins a Broader 2026 Layoff Trend

Uber's decision comes amid a wider shift in the labor market. AI was cited in 101,743 US job cut announcements through June, representing roughly 23% of the total, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

AI has been the leading stated reason for layoffs for four consecutive months. However, the effect of AI on employment remains debated.

Jeff Bezos recently dismissed concerns that AI would displace jobs, saying the technology would reshape household economics and create labor scarcity.

The restructuring at Uber—one of the largest ride-hailing and delivery platforms globally—reflects a pattern taking hold across the technology sector, where companies from Microsoft to Meta have similarly reorganized support and operations functions around AI-driven automation. For Uber, the push comes as it competes to deploy autonomous ride services, a market where operational efficiency and AI capabilities are becoming central to competitive positioning.