Uber gives 30,000 office workers ChatGPT weeks after layoffs

Uber is giving about 30,000 office employees access to ChatGPT Work, a business version of OpenAI's chatbot. The two companies announced it on Thursday. The rollout comes weeks after Uber cut about 3,300 corporate jobs, roughly 10% of its office staff.

What the tool does

ChatGPT Work connects to programs employees already use, including Slack and Gmail. A company statement says it can research information, prepare meeting briefs, create presentations, analyze data and complete workflows across applications. Uber first tested it with a group of 1,000 employees.

Uber's chief technology officer, Praveen Neppalli Naga, said the aim is to give everyone the tools to innovate, solve problems and help shape the company's future.

The layoffs backdrop

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said last month's cuts were meant to reduce management layers and the number of small teams. Uber did not cite AI in that announcement. Some laid-off workers told Business Insider that AI was already doing big parts of their jobs, from answering questions in Slack to drafting replies to riders and drivers.

Uber did cite AI as a reason for an earlier round of layoffs in July, which hit customer service staff.

What is not known

• Whether Uber plans more job cuts tied to the tool
• How much the company is paying for ChatGPT Work
• How much work employees are expected to hand to it