Barely four months into 2026, Uber had already exhausted its full-year spending for AI.“We budget based on what we know, but things are changing fast in this space,” said Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber’s chief technology officer. “Every week there’s a tectonic shift.”Uber was not alone. As companies raced to adopt AI agents, bosses introduced leaderboards and usage targets to encourage staff to use them. Their ability to carry out complex tasks with limited human input is “the real unlock for AI”, ...