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Published June 23, 2026
Uber burned $3.4 billion in four months [28 million dollars a day]
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Summary
Uber burned $3.4 billion on AI in four months—$28 million a day—because it set token usage as the metric and gave employees unrestrained limits. I argue that nobody needs that many LLM tokens to ship useful app features, and the Uber CTO couldn’t connect the usage to real features, so it likely went to personal side projects and low-value tasks like summarizing emails. My take is that this is executive AI psychosis: a giant corporation failed to notice $28 million leaving every day, and I think the token-maxing worst is still ahead.
Key takeaways
- Never make raw AI token usage a target—it rewards consumption instead of shipped value.
- Tie every AI dollar to a shipped feature or measurable outcome, not just usage volume.
- Set hard spend caps and anomaly alerts; $28 million a day should trigger alarms long before four months pass.
- Unrestrained LLM access invites personal side projects and low-value work like email summaries.
- Executive AI psychosis is driving token maxing, and the worst is still yet to come.
Description
Uber, a giant multinational mega corporation, didn't notice $28 million leaving their bank accounts every single day for 120 days. We truly live in an AI psychosis society.
Transcript
I think token maxing has officially gone way too far when I see headlines like this: Uber burning $3.4 billion in just four months.
This is what happens when you set AI usage as the metric and incentivize your workers to use as much of it as you possibly can with completely unrestrained limits. What's crazier is, if you ask the Uber CTO where this AI usage even went, they can't even connect it to any real features being built and shipped. They have no idea where all this usage went.
And I think I do. It went to the employees building their own personal side projects. It went to summarizing emails and other dumb shit that AI is being used for over here. Because nobody at this company needs $3.4 billion worth of LLM tokens to build any useful feature in the app.
And that's not all. That's not all. What I'm about to tell you is going to really blow your mind. You see, $3.4 billion in four months means $28 million every single day. You're telling me that this company didn't even notice $28 million leaving their bank account every single day?
Like, that is such a huge amount leaving your bank account every single day, and you're telling me nobody at this giant multinational corporation noticed it? Like, the sheer level of incompetence over here at some of these companies, it's just so fucking crazy.
It's honestly crazy how much AI psychosis some of these executives are in. And you know what? I have a feeling that the worst is still yet to come. We are nowhere near the end of this token maxing journey.
Dude, you’re at the bottom of my landing page.
Just book a call already if you’re that interested.
You scrolled all the way here.