uber blew through its entire 2026 AI budget by april, 4 months in. 95% of their engineers use AI, 70% of commits are AI driven, and their COO still said he cant draw a clear line between all that usage and actually shipping more useful features. microsoft and duolingo have pulled back too.
at the same time theres a CEO survey going around (oliver wyman) where the share planning to cut junior roles jumped from 17% to 43% in a year, and only 27% said their AI ROI met expectations, down from 38%.
what gets me is the combination. companies are trimming entry level headcount because AI can do junior tasks, but juniors are also how you grow seniors. if that pattern holds for a few years the mid and senior pipeline gets thin right when the current seniors age out. cutting the bottom rung while the ROI is still unproven seems like a weird bet. anyone seeing this play out where they work?
sauce: https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/ubers-coo-says-getting-harder-050841491.html
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