Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Says Companies Are 'Play-Acting' With AI — Even As 90% Plan To Spend More — The Real Work Means 'Breaking Down The Rules' Oops, something went wrong Skip to navigation Skip to main content Skip to right column Yahoo Finance Home News Finance Sports More News US Politics World Climate change Health Science Originals Newsletters Finance My portfolio News Markets Research Community Personal finance Videos Sports World Cup Fantasy Football 2026 Fantasy NFL NFL Odds NBA MLB NHL College football College basketball Soccer Sports Betting Yahoo Sports AM Shopping Style Beauty Health Home and garden Pets Tech Gift ideas Stores Shopping Guides Deals Toys and games Shopping lists General Entertainment Celebrity TV Movies Music How to Watch Interviews Videos Nonfiction Hotlist Life Health Parenting Horoscopes Shopping Food Travel Autos Gift ideas Buying guides Selected edition US English Sign in My Portfolio News Markets Stock market Crypto Real estate Magnificent 7 Private markets Futures & Derivatives Originals Newsletters Economy & Policy Earnings Oil & gas Strait of Hormuz Tariffs Clean Energy Tech Aerospace & Defense Enterprise Cloud Pharma & Biotech Cybersecurity Exchange-Traded Funds Markets Stocks Most active Day gainers Day losers Trending Highest dividend Small cap Large cap Most expensive Highest beta Pink sheet Unusual volume Crypto Most active Day gainers Day losers Private companies 52 week gainers Recently funded Most funded Options Day gainers Day losers Highest open interest Highest implied volatility Sectors Technology Financial services Consumer cyclical Communication services Healthcare Industrials Consumer defensive Energy Basic materials Real estate Utilities Treasury bonds Futures Currencies World indices ETFs Mutual funds Calendars Earnings IPOs Stock splits Economic events Research Screeners Stocks Most shorted Most active penny stocks Analyst strong buy Stock comparison NVDA vs INTC NVDA vs AMD GOOG vs AMZN AAPL vs MSFT TSLA vs RIVN Currency converter Advanced charts Community Personal Finance My Money BETA Credit cards Compare Credit Cards Best 0% APR cards Best balance transfer cards Best rewards cards Best travel cards Banking Best CD rates Best high-yield savings accounts Best money market accounts Best free checking accounts Best online banks Mortgage Best mortgage lenders Best mortgage rates Mortgage refinance First time homebuyer Mortgage payment calculator Home affordability calculator Insurance Find car insurance Types of car insurance Find life insurance Taxes How to file Tax brackets and rates Child tax credit Tax extension Tax refund status Student loans Federal vs. private How to apply FAFSA 2026-27 Student loan assistance Personal loans Best personal loans Improve credit score How to get approved Calculators All Calculators 50/30/20 Budget Calculator Compound Interest Calculator Savings Calculator Savings Goal Calculator Social Security Calculator Watch Watch Now Shows The 8:30 Sozzi Unleashed The Daily Wolf Market Hang In the Loop Built Different How They Run Power Players The Big Idea Trader Talk Latest Must-watch Interviews Fed Watch ETF Report New Shows ... Network U.S. markets open in 1h 37m US Markets US Markets Europe Markets Asia Markets Cryptocurrencies Rates Commodities Currencies U.S. markets open in 1h 37m S&P Futures 7,819.25 -12.50 -0.16% Dow Futures 52,104.00 -175.00 -0.33% Nasdaq Futures 30,911.25 -117.25 -0.38% Russell 2000 Futures 2,896.50 -17.60 -0.60% VIX 14.32 +0.11 +0.77% Gold 4,338.30 -38.10 -0.87% Bitcoin USD 85,661.80 -307.27 -0.36% Crude Oil Nov 26 90.87 +0.35 +0.39% ADVERTISEMENT Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Says Companies Are 'Play-Acting' With AI — Even As 90% Plan To Spend More — The Real Work Means 'Breaking Down The Rules' Casey B. Renner February 4, 2026 3 min read UBER A growing divide is forming between companies talking about artificial intelligence and those changing how they work. "Play-acting" is how many businesses approach AI, Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER ) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, even as most companies plan to increase spending on the technology. Khosrowshahi said many organizations are "saying the right words" about AI without changing how their operations function. He added that the difference comes down to whether companies add AI to existing systems or rebuild their processes around it. Don't Miss: Missed Nvidia and Tesla? RAD Intel Could Be the Next AI Powerhouse — Just $0.85 a Share Blue-chip art has historically outpaced the S&P 500 since 1995, and fractional investing is now opening this institutional asset class to everyday investors. Easy AI Doesn't Set Companies Apart "The easy stuff" dominates many AI strategies, Khosrowshahi said during an onstage discussion with Bloomberg Head of Economics and Government Stephanie Flanders , pointing to tools that summarize client pitches or handle routine tasks. "Truly changing how you work with AI, we've found it to be much harder than it sounds," Khosrowshahi added. He said the harder work involves rebuilding systems rather than placing AI on top of existing processes. Companies plan to more than double their AI spending this year. Average investment is expected to rise from about 0.8% to 1.7% of revenue, according to a recent report by Boston Consulting Group. About 90% of companies also say they plan to increase AI spending, even as many struggle to see clear returns, the firm reported. The shift reflects a move away from AI experimentation to broader deployment across organizations. Trending: Americans With a Financial Plan Can 4X Their Wealth — Get Your Personalized Plan from a CFP Pro Uber's Shift Required Starting From Scratch "Breakthrough" progress at Uber came only after abandoning earlier approaches, Khosrowshahi said in Davos. He said initial efforts to use AI in customer service focused on having systems follow long-standing policies. Those tools produced some improvement but failed to deliver larger gains. "Allowing the AI actually to reason through that and throwing away all of the old policies is turning out to be the most promising way forward," Khosrowshahi said. He added that Uber rebuilt its customer-service systems from scratch, replacing rigid rules with clear goals for AI agents , including making customers feel good after each interaction. Story Continues See Also: Wall Street's $12B Real Estate Manager Is Opening Its Doors to Individual Investors — Without the Crowdfunding Middlemen Breaking Down The Rules Isn't Smooth "You know, what's a company? Essentially, it's a rule. It's a bunch of policies," Khosrowshahi said at the forum, adding that reaching AI's full potential requires breaking those rules and starting over. He also said that internally, Uber developers are using tools such as Anysphere's Cursor, an AI-assisted coding tool, and Anthropic 's Claude, a large language model, as part of that effort. More broadly, workers are enthusiastic about AI's usefulness but increasingly concerned about its effects on job security and long-term skills, according to KPMG's American Worker Survey, published in November. "You have to survive through a bunch of car crashes internally to do so," Khosrowshahi said. Read Next: Professional traders demand transparency — see why Kraken Pro has become one of crypto's most trusted advanced trading platforms. Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily , plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga: UBER TECHNOLOGIES (UBER): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Says Companies Are 'Play-Acting' With AI — Even As 90% Plan To Spend More — The Real Work Means 'Breaking Down The Rules' originally appeared on Benzinga.com © 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Terms and Privacy Policy Privacy Dashboard More Info Recommended Stories Copyright © 2026 Yahoo. All rights reserved. Trending Topics Dow Jones S&P 500 DAX Index Nvidia Tesla DJT Tariffs Explore Further Mortgages Credit Cards Sectors Crypto Heatmap Financial News About Data Disclaimer Help Feedback Sitemap Licensing What's New About Our Ads Terms and Privacy Policy Privacy Dashboard More Info ADVERTISEMENT Edit your Dock More News Terms and Privacy Policy Privacy Dashboard Ad Terms Feedback More Info