Uber rolls out ChatGPT Work to all 30,000 employees after successful pilot

Ride-share giant expands enterprise AI partnership with OpenAI

By LineZotpaper

Published22 October 2026

Read Time2 min

Sources2 outlets

Uber and OpenAI announced an expansion of their partnership on Thursday, with the ride-hailing company confirming that its entire global workforce of approximately 30,000 employees will now have access to ChatGPT Work, an enterprise-focused AI agent launched in July.

Uber initially piloted ChatGPT Work with 1,000 employees earlier this year, drawing workers from across departments including finance, operations and product. The company reported that 80% of early adopters were non-engineers, according to Sumanth Sukumar, Uber's vice president of engineering.

Sukumar told TechCrunch that employees used the tool for a range of tasks, including analyzing complex operational data to identify trends, localizing training materials for different markets and languages, and building personalised interactive dashboards for daily work.

While Uber has now committed to a company-wide rollout, it has not prescribed specific use cases. "Our approach is to make powerful AI tools available across Uber while giving teams room to experiment," Sukumar said.

He described an earlier initiative in which Uber paired 30 AI engineers with teams across the company and gave them two weeks to automate key parts of their jobs. Those 'AI pods' demonstrated what is possible when technical expertise is combined with deep job knowledge, he said.

Uber did not disclose the cost of the new rollout. Sukumar said the company will instead track how employees use the technology, the workflows they develop and how the tool helps them work more effectively, using those outcomes to guide future AI deployment.

OpenAI worked closely with Uber on the integration as it pushes to expand its enterprise business. The company, once known primarily as a consumer brand, has moved quickly to build a corporate customer base as it competes with rival Anthropic.

Analysis

Why This Matters

A company of Uber's size adopting ChatGPT Work across its entire workforce signals growing corporate confidence in enterprise AI agents
The focus on non-engineer users (80% in the pilot) suggests AI tools are moving beyond technical teams into mainstream business operations
OpenAI's deepening enterprise partnerships demonstrate the shift from consumer AI to business revenue as a competitive battleground

Background

ChatGPT Work was introduced in July 2026 as an enterprise-focused AI agent designed for corporate teams. OpenAI has been aggressively scaling its business offerings, competing with Anthropic and other providers. Uber is one of the world's largest ride-share and delivery platforms, with operations in hundreds of cities globally. The company has previously invested in AI for autonomous driving and logistics, but this rollout represents a broad deployment of generative AI across all job functions.

Key Perspectives

Uber: The company sees AI as a productivity multiplier, giving teams freedom to experiment while tracking outcomes. It avoids prescribing specific uses, instead letting employee-driven innovation determine best practices.

OpenAI: The partnership validates ChatGPT Work as an enterprise product and provides a high-profile reference customer. Success at Uber could accelerate adoption by other large corporations.

Critics and skeptics: Some observers may question the security and privacy implications of feeding company data through a third-party AI system. Others may worry about job displacement or over-reliance on a single AI provider. Without disclosed costs or measurable results, the return on investment remains unclear.

What to Watch

How Uber measures productivity gains and whether it shares specific metrics
Whether other major companies follow with similar company-wide AI deployments
How competitors like Anthropic respond to OpenAI's growing enterprise footprint

Sources

Uber puts all 30,000 employees on ChatGPT Work · TechCrunch
Uber puts all 30,000 employees on ChatGPT Work · AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 9 supported.

Show each claim

Partly supportedUber is rolling out ChatGPT Work to all 30,000 employees after a successful pilot.TechCrunch: “Uber originally piloted ChatGPT Work with 1,000 employees earlier this year but has now scaled up its usage to the entire company.”
SupportedUber and OpenAI expanded their partnership on Thursday.TechCrunch: “Uber and OpenAI announced an expansion of their partnership on Thursday”
SupportedUber’s global workforce of approximately 30,000 people will now have access to ChatGPT Work.TechCrunch: “its entire global workforce — some 30,000 people — will now be using ChatGPT Work.”
Partly supportedChatGPT Work is an enterprise-focused AI agent launched in July.TechCrunch: “ChatGPT Work was introduced in July as an enterprise-focused AI agent that corporate teams could deploy for various workflows.”
SupportedUber’s pilot involved 1,000 employees from finance, operations and product.TechCrunch: “That earlier pilot was deployed to workers from across Uber’s various departments, including finance, operations, and product.”
Partly supportedSukumar said 80% of early adopters were non-engineers.TechCrunch: “Indeed, a majority of the early adopters — some 80% — were non-engineers, Sumanth Sukumar, Uber’s VP of engineering, told TechCrunch.”
SupportedSukumar said employees used ChatGPT Work to analyze operational data, localize training materials and build interactive dashboards.TechCrunch: ““They used it for a wide range of tasks: analyzing complex data from our operations to identify trends and develop recommendations; localizing training materials for different markets and languages; and building personalized interactive dashboards to manage their daily work,” he said.”
SupportedSukumar said, “Our approach is to make powerful AI tools available across Uber while giving teams room to experiment.”TechCrunch: ““Our approach is to make powerful AI tools available across Uber while giving teams room to experiment,” Sukumar said.”
SupportedUber has not prescribed specific use cases for the company-wide rollout.TechCrunch: “Yet while the ride-share giant is now going all in on ChatGPT, it has not settled on exactly how employees will use it.”
SupportedUber paired 30 AI engineers with teams for two weeks to automate key parts of their jobs.TechCrunch: ““For example, earlier this year we paired 30 AI engineers with teams across Uber and gave them two weeks to automate key parts of their job.””
SupportedUber did not disclose the cost of the rollout and will track employee use, workflows and effectiveness to guide future AI deployment.TechCrunch: “Uber didn’t disclose how much it’s spending on the new rollout of the chatbot. Instead, Sukumar said the company will track how employees use the tool.”
SupportedOpenAI worked closely with Uber on integration as it expands its enterprise business and competes with Anthropic.TechCrunch: “Uber says OpenAI worked closely with the company on integrating the chatbot. OpenAI has moved quickly to scale up its enterprise business as it competes with its chief competitor, Anthropic.”