Consumers likely think of Uber as a ride-hailing and food delivery company. But according to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber is fundamentally a giant code base, and its engineers are the true builders of the company. In fact, Uber’s engineers have taken this idea so far that they have replaced Khosrowshahi with an AI chatbot. Teams use this “Dara AI” to practice their presentations by asking it questions, honing their pitches before meeting with the real CEO.
Khosrowshahi revealed this in a recent podcast interview. He explained that by the time a proposal reaches him, the presentation has been meticulously refined. The AI clone serves as a final tuning tool for that preparation.
The CEO also shared significant data on AI adoption within Uber’s engineering ranks. Approximately ninety percent of Uber’s software engineers are now using AI in their daily work. Of those, about thirty percent are considered power users who are completely rethinking the company’s technical architecture. Khosrowshahi described these engineers as both manufacturing the bricks of the system and acting as the architects designing what the system should become.
He emphasized the profound impact of this shift, stating that AI is changing engineer productivity in a way he has never seen before in his career.