Uber’s rapid adoption of AI coding tools led to unexpected spending, depleting its 2026 budget by March 2026.
Uber spent its entire 2026 artificial intelligence budget in just four months after rolling out Anthropic’s Claude Code to thousands of engineers. The company’s financial models did not account for the rapid adoption rate, which surged from 32% of engineers in February to 84% by March 2026.
Costs escalated as usage expanded, with one two-hour coding session alone incurring a $1,200 expense. By spring, 95% of engineers used AI tools monthly, and 70% of committed code originated from them. The shift to consumption-based pricing models contributed to the unexpected financial strain.
The situation highlights broader concerns about whether AI investments are delivering sufficient returns to justify their costs. Companies across sectors are grappling with similar questions as AI adoption accelerates.