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Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'

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Re: Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'

#161

Post by jimkleiber »

redhale wrote: post #146
jimkleiber wrote: post #114

I wish they would spend some of that on the help/support function within their apps. Whenever I have a problem on Uber, it feels like a never-ending maze to figure out how to get any support, and I consider myself versed in navigating unseemly UI, I can only imagine how much it might frustrate people who struggle navigating apps. Any idea why their help function seems to impenetrable and if AI might help with it?

I think this is clearly be design. They don't want to provide support, they want you to give up and let your issue go.

It might be. It also lets my loyalty go slowly by slowly. Monopolies work until they collapse.

If you can't tell, it frustrates me so much. I wonder how the internal culture of Uber changed when it went from almost zero interest rates to now trying to make lots of profit.

My friend said he realized Uber can just rely on a steady stream of people either growing up or getting laid off and trying to make a quick buck, so they can treat their drivers poorly as well.

I'm not sure what's happening, just know support may be a lot simpler and cheaper to address than nothing, or at least in the medium to long term, but maybe not?

Re: Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'

#163

Post by zygology »

12_throw_away wrote: post #113
palmotea wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's industry best practice. All the market-leading companies are doing it. Do you think you know better than them? If there's anything I've learned as a software engineer, it's that agreeing with and defending the ideas of business leaders and Silicon Valley VC influencers proves I'm very intelligent.

this sarcasm is very disrespectful, you're mocking a sizeable proportion of the commenters on this site. when I quote this comment later, with appropriate attribution, please know that I will be shaking my head and frowning while doing so

> you're mocking a sizeable proportion of the commenters on this site.

some would call this god's work

Re: Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'

#164

Post by NoPicklez »

smelendez wrote: post #40
joenot443 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine added some pretty extensive iOS UI tests to a keystone feature hit by millions every month. They'd been kicking the can down the road for years, trying to fit it in their roadmap, and with Claude running overnight they were able to bang out the whole suite in a week. I'm not sure how it would show up in quarterly results.

I see these kinds of stories here a lot, and I'm curious whether they reflect a steady stream of need for AI coding, or whether a lot of companies have a burst of AI-appropriate coding work now that the technology is available and then will have a smaller need going forward. Is it like the stereotypical dad who rents a power washer, powerwashes every exposed surface on his property, and then doesn't need to do any po…

I've found it to be that people simply go back to their old ways. Many people are busy and unless they're being actively pushed to change it they feel they only have time to do things the way they have been doing them.

Using AI requires skills to know how to use it, particularly agents then it requires the time to build an improved way of doing things.

I think of it like giving someone excel in the beginning and expecting they know how to use it, when the rest of their team doesn't, they don't have the skills to know how to use it and how it can benefit them.

Re: Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'

#165

Post by lukeschlather »

generalpf wrote: post #93
newaccountman2 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never heard of someone doing that tbh, this is the first time.

You can get any Uber driver to do it for you if you offer to buy them food too and do it off the books.

You just do a ride with two stops, one at the restaurant, and ask them to wait. It's not remotely clandestine or complicated.

Re: Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'

#166

Post by Mistletoe »

ericmcer wrote: post #107
Mistletoe wrote: post #18

It feels like maybe the wheels are starting to fall off the AI hype train. I expect complete collapse once people start figuring out that the numbers on all this don’t make sense. I’m looking for investment portfolios that will weather that storm. If you are reading this and have a similar curiosity, this is a great place to start. https://portfoliocharts.com/2021/12/16/three-secret-ingredie...

Market makers are not going to let anything collapse, there is not going to be a "storm". The government and everyone with any money/power are fully invested in keeping the market going regardless of any kind of reality. "Every American child under 18 with a Social Security number can have a federally recognized "Trump Account," a one-time $1,000 IRA seed deposit" By doing this every citizen will personally have skin…

So what you are saying is “this time it’s different”. That’s a dangerous thought to have.

https://www.currentmarketvaluation.com/models/s&p500-mean-re...

Re: Uber president says AI spending is getting 'harder to justify'

#167

Post by rtkwe »

DesiLurker wrote: post #70
rtkwe wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been thinking that for years about various sources and the bubble stubbornly refuses to pop on a convenient timeline so I'm falling back on the adage "time in the market beats trying to time the market". Index funds and chill is much more relaxed than trying to determine who's actually going to survive the AI bubble popping.

this is the reason I refuse to budge from my index portfolio besides small 'play money' ventures. My investing philosophy is basically by the time it hits wire you dont know what portion of it factored in. especially in age of AI and automation IMO alpha will vanish faster as anyone can code up eqv of a bloomberg terminal themselves. So all thats left is how do you manage downturns, when market heads down 30% but you…

Yeah I don't have the time or the patience to try to pick and think about long term choices beyond some sector or tailored mutual funds/ETFs. Doesn't help my job comes with pretty heavy trade restrictions so I have to get pre-approval for individual stock trades AND surrender any profits on sells less than 60 days after buying. Honestly probably wouldn't do much even without those restrictions but it completely kills it for me.
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