Uber is making ChatGPT Work available across its entire global workforce, extending a pilot that began with 1,000 employees earlier this year. The company has not set out a single required use for the tool; instead, it plans to observe how teams apply it and what they learn.
From a pilot to a company-wide rollout
Uber and OpenAI announced an expansion of their partnership on Thursday. Uber told TechCrunch that some 30,000 people across its global workforce will now use ChatGPT Work.
OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Work in July as an enterprise-focused AI agent for corporate teams and workplace workflows. At Uber, the rollout follows an earlier trial that included employees from finance, operations and product, among other departments.
The move broadens access well beyond a small test group. It also gives Uber the opportunity to see how a workplace AI tool is used across roles with different day-to-day responsibilities. The source does not describe a fixed set of tasks that every employee is expected to perform with it.
Early uses crossed department lines
Uber’s pilot included many employees who were not engineers. Sumanth Sukumar, Uber’s VP of engineering, told TechCrunch that some 80% of early adopters were non-engineers.
The trial produced examples of work spanning data analysis, training and personal dashboards. Employees used ChatGPT Work to analyze complex operational data for trends and recommendations, localize training materials for different markets and languages, and build personalized interactive dashboards for managing daily work.
These examples show the range of activities employees tried during the pilot, rather than a single defined use case for the broader rollout. They also suggest why Uber is opening access across departments: workers can explore how the tool might fit tasks specific to their roles.
Experimentation comes before a settled playbook
Uber has not finalized exactly how employees will use ChatGPT Work. Sukumar described the company’s approach as making AI tools available while allowing teams room to experiment.
That approach echoes another experiment Uber ran earlier this year. The company paired 30 AI engineers with teams across Uber and gave them two weeks to automate key pa rts of their job. Sukumar said those “AI pods” demonstrated the opportunity in combining technical expertise with a deep understanding of a particular job.
The exercise offers one example of how Uber has explored AI in work settings, but the source does not say that the same format will be used for the ChatGPT Work rollout. For now, the company’s stated plan is broader access and learning from the workflows employees develop.
Uber will assess use and outcomes
Uber did not disclose the cost of the expanded chatbot rollout. Sukumar said the company will track how employees use the technology, which workflows they create and how it helps them work more effectively.
Uber says OpenAI worked closely with the company on integrating the chatbot. The company plans to evaluate the outcomes and use what it learns to guide how it deploys AI across the business.
That leaves important questions open, including which workflows will prove useful and how the company will judge their results. Uber’s own description makes the rollout an opportunity to gather evidence about employee use, then apply those findings to later decisions about AI deployment.
The expansion also comes as OpenAI moves to grow its enterprise business while competing with Anthropic. ChatGPT’s creator, once known largely as a consumer brand, has gained a loyal following among business customers, according to the source. Uber’s company-wide access gives OpenAI a broad workplace deployment, while Uber will be watching what employees do with the tool.