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Uber Slashes HR Team by 23% in Major Restructuring, Denies AI Link

Uber's HR Shakeup: Efficiency Drive or Hidden Tech Agenda?

Uber's new HR president Jill Hazelbaker is making waves with a sweeping reorganization that will eliminate nearly a quarter of the department's positions. The move comes as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi pushes for what he describes as "maximum team efficiency" across the company.

"This isn't about replacing people with bots," a company spokesperson told us. "We're simply untangling an organizational knot that's been slowing us down for years." The affected employees represent less than 1% of Uber's 34,000-strong workforce globally.

The AI Elephant in the Room

Despite Uber's insistence that artificial intelligence played no role in the layoffs, the timing raises eyebrows. Internal documents show the company exhausted its entire 2026 AI project budget within just four months - an eye-watering burn rate that suggests heavy reliance on automation tools.

Hazelbaker acknowledged the HR department had become "overly complex" with functions scattered across different teams. Some groups had reportedly grown so disconnected they were essentially working at cross-purposes with the business units they supported.

Budget Blowout Sparks Questions

The AI spending revelation paints a complicated picture. While Uber maintains these are purely structural changes, the rapid depletion of automation funds suggests technology is playing an increasingly central role in operations.

Company veterans describe a tension between two competing priorities: Khosrowshahi's promise to investors to reach profitability through cost discipline, while simultaneously keeping pace with rivals in the AI arms race.

Key Points:

  • 23% reduction in Uber's HR department staff
  • Cuts affect <1% of total workforce (34,000 employees)
  • Company denies AI replacement claims despite budget blowout
  • 2026 AI funds exhausted in just four months
  • Restructuring aims to "simplify" overlapping functions

Industry analysts suggest we may be seeing the first signs of a broader trend - companies using structural reorganizations as cover for workforce reductions that might otherwise attract scrutiny about automation's role in job losses.