Balaji Krishnamurthy
Coverage of Balaji Krishnamurthy in the Nexus archive.
- Waymo is eating into the ride-hailing market in some cities. The fallout for human drivers stays fuzzy.
Waymo has captured significant shares of ride spending in mature markets like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, with data showing Waymo taking between 15% and 19% of rider bookings. Experts suggest that the impact of this growth on human drivers will not appear as sudden layoffs but rather through changes in utilization, such as longer waits or fewer trips per hour.
- Uber's CTO says the company is coming to the end of its tokenmaxxing era
Uber’s CTO announced that the company is exiting its 'tokenmaxxing' era, an AI trend focused on maximizing usage. Although AI adoption has quadrupled, Uber plans to prioritize efficiency and cost management through strategies like improving prompt caching and using open-weight models. This shift reflects a broader industry move away from inflated spending towards better returns on investment.
- Uber keeps AI spending stable using cheaper models and employees tracking cost, CFO says
Uber maintained stable AI spending in Q2 by using cheaper models and employee cost management. The company focuses on incremental AI improvements in operations, such as destination suggestions in its app, and has reduced cost per token despite increased adoption. Uber also reshaped internal operations with AI, including layoffs in customer service and exploring AI applications across departments.