Uber Cuts Customer Service Team by 10 Percent, Cites AI

Uber Technologies announced on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, that it is laying off 10 percent of its community operations staff, the team responsible for customer service to both riders and drivers. The company cited a desire to simplify its organizational structure and further integrate artificial intelligence into daily operations as the reason.

What Uber announced

The decision affects the community operations team, the unit that handles direct contact with platform users - drivers, riders, and couriers using the Uber Eats app. The company did not disclose the exact number of employees affected, giving only the percentage figure for the cuts.

In an internal memo, Uber said the goal of the changes is to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue integrating artificial intelligence into support processes. Employees who had been working remotely on the team were asked to relocate to central offices, part of the company's broader return-to-office policy.

Uber is working to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue rolling out AI - from an Uber Technologies memo to community operations team employees

The VP overseeing the division speaks

The vice president of global community operations acknowledged that the company has already made progress deploying AI-based tools, but said that fully capitalizing on their potential requires a more efficient organizational structure. The wording suggests the staff cuts are directly tied to management's belief that a smaller team, supported by AI, can handle a similar volume of requests.

Another round of cuts at Uber

The July cuts to customer service are not Uber's first such move in 2026. In June, the company reduced its People division, responsible for human resources, by as much as 23 percent, also citing a push to simplify structures and integrate AI into internal processes. While the percentage cut in the People division was steeper, relative to Uber's total headcount of roughly 34,000 employees worldwide, it amounted to a small fraction of the overall workforce.

Uber also slowed hiring in other areas throughout 2026, particularly in engineering, saying that AI coding tools have reduced the need for new employees. The company has consistently framed these decisions as concrete evidence of returns on its AI investment, measured directly through lower personnel costs rather than just gains in team productivity.

Broader industry context

Uber's decision fits a broader trend of large tech companies increasingly citing AI deployment outright as a reason for layoffs, rather than hiding it behind vague restructuring language. Customer service departments are among the most frequent targets of such cuts, since tasks built around repetitive queries lend themselves easily to automation by chatbots and AI agents.

For Uber users in Poland, a direct consequence could be even less access to live agents when reporting problems with rides or Uber Eats orders, in favor of automated AI-based support systems. Other companies operating in Poland are already following a similar path, with customer service automation advancing across industries regardless of sector.

Uber has not disclosed exactly which countries will be affected by the layoffs or how the cuts will affect wait times for a response from support staff. The company also did not specify what share of customer service will be automated in the near term, limiting itself to general statements about continued development of AI-based tools.