Uber Engineers Built An AI Version Of Their Boss
What Is Uber's AI CEO Coach?
Imagine you have a huge speech to give. You need to impress the principal, but you're nervous. What if you could practice with a super smart robot that acts exactly like your principal? It would listen to your ideas, ask tough questions, and give feedback. That's pretty much what Uber engineers built for their company.
Uber created an internal AI chatbot. This chatbot acts like their real CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. Employees can practice their big ideas and company pitches with this AI. It gives them realistic feedback before they present to the actual executive. This helps them get ready and make their pitches much better.
How It Works (Under the Hood)
Uber’s AI CEO Coach is a special computer program. The company hasn't shared all the secret details about how it's built. But we can guess a few things based on how similar AIs work.
It likely uses a "large language model" (LLM). Think of an LLM as a super-smart text generator, like the brain behind chatbots you might know. This AI brain was probably "fine-tuned." This means it was trained extra carefully using tons of information about Uber's CEO. This data would include his public speeches, interviews, company emails, and ideas. By learning from all this, the AI chatbot learned to "talk" and "think" like the CEO. It learned his priorities and how he makes decisions. This allows it to give feedback that feels very real, just like the CEO himself would.
Speed & Cost (Benchmark Table)
Uber has kept many details about this internal tool private. This means we don't have public numbers for its speed or how much it costs to run. However, the benefits it brings are clear.
| Metric | Value | Source/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Public Performance Benchmarks | Not Disclosed | This is an internal tool, no public data is available. |
| Tokens/second (processing speed) | Not Disclosed | No public data released by Uber. |
| Cost per interaction | Not Disclosed | No public data released by Uber. |
| Executive Time Saved | Significant | Reduces need for executives to attend early pitch sessions. |
| Pitch Quality Improvement | High | Employees refine ideas, align with CEO's priorities. |
| Employee Confidence | Enhanced | Allows practice without live executive pressure. |
Business & Career Impact
This AI coach brings a lot of good to Uber. It helps the company run smoother and makes employees better at their jobs.
- Better Pitches: Employees get to practice their ideas with the AI CEO. This helps them make their arguments stronger and guess what questions the real CEO might ask. Their proposals become more convincing and successful. This means executives get to see ideas that are already polished and ready.
- Time Saved: Executives don't have to sit through as many early-stage meetings. The AI handles the first rounds of feedback. This saves busy executives many hours each year. They only see the best ideas.
- More Confident Employees: Practicing with an AI is less stressful than with a live executive. This builds confidence in employees. They feel more ready and perform better when it's time for the real meeting.
The main people who benefit are Uber employees who need to pitch ideas. Executive leaders also benefit greatly because they get higher quality proposals.
How to Make Money With This
You could create your own "Executive AI Coach" as a side business! Here's how:
- Pick Your Niche: Decide which type of leader you want your AI to copy. Maybe a famous startup founder, a specific kind of CEO, or a venture capitalist.
- Gather Information: Collect everything you can find about your chosen leader. Look for interviews, speeches, articles, podcasts, company reports, and social media posts. Focus on how they talk, what they care about, and questions they often ask.
- Choose an AI Model: Use a large language model that you can access, like OpenAI's GPT-4 or Anthropic's Claude. There are also free, open-source options like Llama 3.
- Teach Your AI:
- Give Instructions: Write a clear "system prompt" for the AI. This tells it to act like your chosen executive, using their tone and priorities.
- Add Context: Put in important quotes or ideas from the executive directly into the AI's conversation to make its feedback super specific.
- Fine-tune (Optional): For an even better AI, you could create a small list of "executive questions" and "good answers." Use this to train a smaller AI model, making it even more like your chosen executive.
- Build a Simple App: Create an easy-to-use website or app. People could type their pitches or even record them. Tools like Streamlit or even no-code options like Voiceflow can help.
- Offer Your Service: Market your "AI Pitch Coach" to individuals or small businesses. They can use it to get ready for important meetings. You could charge a monthly fee or a price per session.
What It Can't Do
While Uber's AI CEO Coach is a smart tool, it's not perfect.
- Can Be Biased or Make Up Things: The AI learns from the data it's given. If that data has biases, the AI might show them too. It also can "hallucinate," meaning it might give feedback that isn't really true or accurate to the CEO's thoughts.
- Lacks Human Touch: An AI can't read body language or feel emotions like a human executive. It might miss subtle social cues that are very important in a live meeting.
- Can Become Outdated: If the CEO's priorities or company plans change fast, the AI's knowledge might get old. It could give feedback that is no longer helpful until it's updated with new information.
- Can Be "Cheated": Employees might figure out how to simply please the AI to get good feedback, instead of truly improving their pitch. This could give them a false sense of security.
- Limited Use: This AI is built just for practicing pitches. It's not a general chatbot that can discuss anything with the CEO. Its job is very specific.
The Verdict
Uber's AI CEO Coach is a smart, specialized tool that boosts pitch quality and saves executive time by making internal communication more efficient.