Praveen Neppalli Naga

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 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.

Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga introduced 'Agentic Pods,' deploying AI engineers across departments like finance, legal, and marketing to redesign workflows using AI. This approach reduced tasks like financial planning from 15 hours to 30 minutes and marketing quality checks from two weeks to under an hour.

Uber plans to utilize its drivers as a sensor grid for self-driving companies, as announced by CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga at TechCrunch's StrictlyVC event in San Francisco. The initiative is part of Uber's AV Labs program, launched in January 2024.

Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga will speak at StrictlyVC San Francisco on April 30, adding to a strong lineup of speakers. The event, hosted at the Sentro Filipino Cultural Center, will focus on operating at scale in the age of AI as part of TechCrunch's 2024 events.