Uber CEO says other execs are lying about AI: 'They say it'll be fine' but privately admit millions of jobs are gone

1 week ago 5

Rudro Chakrabarti

Tue, April 21, 2026 astatine 7:05 AM CDT 10 min read

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Most tech CEOs accidental the aforesaid happening erstwhile idiosyncratic asks astir AI and jobs: productivity volition spell up, caller roles volition beryllium created, nine ever adapts.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber (NYSE:UBER), isn't doing that.

In a caller interrogation connected The Diary of a CEO (1), erstwhile big Steven Bartlett raised the dissonance betwixt what tech leaders accidental publically astir AI and what they admit down closed doors, the Uber main enforcement didn't propulsion back. He agreed and went further.

Khosrowshahi said he's heard backstage conversations among executives astir the "sheer magnitude of disruption" they expect from AI, past watched those aforesaid radical look connected CNBC oregon astatine Davos and archer audiences everything would enactment retired fine.

"I recognize the incentive," Khosrowshahi said, noting that being excessively candid astir occupation displacement could spook investors and fundraising.

Khosrowshahi didn't soften his ain numbers. He estimated that AI volition beryllium capable to regenerate the enactment that 70 to 80% of humans do, with intelligence jobs falling wrong 10 years and carnal roles similar driving, logistics and robotics wrong 15 to 20. He's not speaking hypothetically astir his ain workforce, either. Uber has 9.5 cardinal drivers and couriers connected its platform, the largest flexible labour web successful the world. Khosrowshahi acknowledged that the bulk of those trips volition yet beryllium fulfilled by autonomous vehicles and erstwhile asked what those 9 cardinal radical bash next, said: "I don't know."

The aboriginal information is already stacking up.

Block CEO Jack Dorsey chopped astir 4,000 jobs successful February — astir 40% of his company's workforce — successful 1 of the largest AI-attributed layoffs successful tech past (2). Dorsey didn't formal it up: AI tools, helium said, person "fundamentally changed what it means to physique and tally a company."

He's acold from alone. Atlassian slashed 1,600 roles citing the "AI era" (3). Meta is reportedly readying cuts of up to 20%, perchance much than 15,000 workers, partially to offset monolithic AI infrastructure spending, though the institution has called the reporting speculative (4).

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