TechCrunch reported that Uber and OpenAI announced an expansion of their partnership on Thursday. Uber told TechCrunch that its entire global workforce, some 30,000 people, will now be using ChatGPT Work.

This is Uber's account of its own rollout, given to TechCrunch. It is not an independent measurement of how many people are using the tool.

From a 1,000-person pilot to the whole company

TechCrunch reports that ChatGPT Work was introduced in July 2026 as an enterprise-focused AI agent that corporate teams could deploy for various workflows. Uber originally piloted it with 1,000 employees earlier this year and has now scaled it to the entire company.

According to TechCrunch, that pilot reached workers across Uber's departments, including finance, operations and product. Sumanth Sukumar, whom TechCrunch identifies as Uber's VP of engineering, told the outlet that a majority of early adopters, some 80%, were non-engineers.

Sukumar described what they did with it: "They used it for a wide range of tasks: analyzing complex data from our operations to identify trends and develop recommendations; localizing training materials for different markets and languages; and building personalized interactive dashboards to manage their daily work."

Crypto Briefing, which cites what Uber told TechCrunch, describes the move as ChatGPT Work becoming standard equipment across Uber's global operations rather than a perk for a select test group.

CEO of Uber Technologies Dara Khosrowshahi in New York
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, pictured in New York in 2019.

Uber hasn't settled how people will use it

TechCrunch says Uber appears not to have settled on exactly how employees will use the tool. Sukumar told the outlet: "Our approach is to make powerful AI tools available across Uber while giving teams room to experiment."

He pointed to an earlier effort as an example. Earlier this year, he said, Uber paired AI engineers with teams across the company for two weeks to automate key parts of their jobs, in what he called "AI pods".

TechCrunch reports that Uber did not disclose how much it is spending on the rollout. Sukumar said the company will track how employees use the tool: "We'll look at how employees are using the technology, the kinds of workflows they develop and how it helps them work more effectively. We'll evaluate those outcomes and use what we learn to guide how we deploy AI across the business." Uber says OpenAI worked closely with it on integrating the chatbot, according to TechCrunch.

Which model sits behind ChatGPT Work

OpenAI's GPT-6 system card, published 7 October 2026, said it was launching GPT-6 to everyone in ChatGPT. It added that users accessing GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna in Codex and via ChatGPT Work were still using previously released versions, which the card calls the September versions. Neither TechCrunch nor Crypto Briefing says which model Uber's employees will use.

The job cuts in the background

Crypto Briefing reports, without naming its source, that about 3,300 Uber roles were cut in September 2026. It says the research it relied on places the AI rollout and the job cuts within the same efficiency push, but it does not state that ChatGPT Work directly replaced any specific roles. Nothing in TechCrunch's report links the two.

What it means for OpenAI

TechCrunch frames the move as part of OpenAI's push to scale up its enterprise business as it competes with Anthropic. Crypto Briefing calls Uber a valuable reference customer for OpenAI.

My view is that a pilot of 1,000 people and a company-wide rollout are different commitments, and Uber has made the second. Its own comments suggest that what the 30,000 will do with the tool is still to be worked out.

An office building at 1515 Third Street in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California
The office building at 1515 Third Street in San Francisco's Mission Bay, home to OpenAI's headquarters when this photo was taken in June 2025.

Sources

Almada Lopez, D. (2026) 'Uber expands ChatGPT Work deployment to all 30,000 employees', Crypto Briefing, 22 October 2026, available at: https://cryptobriefing.com/uber-chatgpt-work-30000-employees/ (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

OpenAI (2026) 'GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna: October 2026 update', OpenAI Deployment Safety Hub, 7 October 2026, available at: https://deploymentsafety.openai.com/gpt-6-october/introduction (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

Ropek, L. (2026) 'Uber puts all 30,000 employees on ChatGPT Work', TechCrunch, 22 October 2026, available at: https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/22/uber-puts-all-30000-employees-on-chatgpt-work/ (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

Picture credits

  • Top picture: Uber office building. Uber offices, Mission Bay, photo: HaeB (CC BY-SA 4.0) (source)
  • Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, pictured in New York in 2019. Dara Khosrowshahi, photo: The Presidential Office of Ukraine (CC BY 4.0) (source)
  • The office building at 1515 Third Street in San Francisco's Mission Bay, home to OpenAI's headquarters when this photo was taken in June 2025. Photo: Coolcaesar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons