Uber is giving ChatGPT Work to its entire global workforce of about 30,000 employees, expanding a pilot that started with 1,000 people earlier this year. Why it matters: this is one of the largest single-company rollouts yet of an enterprise AI agent — and most of the people who used it first were not engineers.
October 22, 2026
What happened
Uber and OpenAI announced an expansion of their partnership on Thursday. Uber told TechCrunch that its full global workforce — some 30,000 people — will now use ChatGPT Work, the enterprise-focused AI agent OpenAI introduced in July for corporate workflows.
The rollout scales up sharply from the pilot Uber ran earlier this year with 1,000 employees drawn from departments including finance, operations, and product.
What the pilot actually did
The detail that stands out from the pilot is who used the tool. About 80% of the early adopters were non-engineers, according to Sumanth Sukumar, Uber’s VP of engineering.
He said staff used it to analyze complex operations data to spot trends and develop recommendations, to localize training materials for different markets and languages, and to build personalized interactive dashboards for their daily work.
Uber’s stated approach is to make the tool available broadly and let teams experiment. Earlier this year the company also paired 30 AI engineers with teams across the business and gave them two weeks to automate key parts of their jobs — an exercise it calls “AI pods.”
What Uber is not saying
Uber did not disclose what the company-wide rollout costs. Instead, Sukumar said Uber will track how employees use the technology, what workflows they develop, and how much it helps them work more effectively, and use those outcomes to guide how AI is deployed across the business.
OpenAI, for its part, worked closely with Uber on integrating the tool. The deal lands as OpenAI pushes hard to grow its enterprise business against Anthropic, its chief rival for corporate customers.
Why it matters
Enterprise AI deals are usually announced as seat counts and left there. Uber’s version is more useful than most because the pilot data says something concrete: when an AI agent is handed to a whole company, the heaviest early use came from finance, operations, and product staff — not from the engineering org. That is the pattern to watch as these tools spread. The open question is the same one Uber itself has not answered yet: whether giving everyone an agent, and letting usage sort itself out, produces measurable output — or just a very large software bill nobody is disclosing. Uber says it will judge the rollout on the workflows employees actually build, which is the right test. Everything AI, tested: we will be watching for the results.
Frequently asked questions
What is ChatGPT Work?
ChatGPT Work is OpenAI’s enterprise-focused AI agent, introduced in July 2026, which corporate teams can deploy across their workflows.
How many Uber employees are getting ChatGPT Work?
About 30,000 — Uber’s entire global workforce. The rollout expands a pilot that began earlier this year with 1,000 employees.
Who used ChatGPT Work most in Uber’s pilot?
Mostly non-engineers. About 80% of the pilot’s early adopters came from departments such as finance, operations, and product, and they used it for data analysis, localizing training materials, and building personal dashboards.
How much is Uber paying for the rollout?
Uber did not disclose the cost. The company said it will track usage and effectiveness and use those results to guide further AI deployment.
Sources: TechCrunch