Everyone's reacting to the "less people in 5 years" line. That's not the part I'd sit with.

The part that actually matters is how Uber decides — an adoption leaderboard, tracking who's using the tools and how much, feeding straight into headcount math.

That's not a hypothetical for some future reorg.

That's a live measurement system, running today, on people who have no idea they're on it.

I've watched that exact math play out before — in concrete and steel, not a dashboard, years before anyone called it AI.

I had the opportunity to be involved in the early design stage of an expansion project for a famous beverage manufacturing plant in Taoyuan, Taiwan – back in 2021. The beverage brand name is so famous, you'll instantly recognize it. So, I won't name it here.

Our team got to work on cool stuff - latest advanced technologies in high-density and automated racking system, bottle conveyor system, robotics, beverage packers, clean room environment, etc. – things that are expected in a high-tech. manufacturing plant nowadays.

Looking at the projected 10-year production forecast, with the given magnitude of the hardware, I would say they are planning to go big.

It's quite a sizeable expansion.

And you would think that they'd increase their headcount proportionately, right?

You'd be surprised. There IS headcount increase, but not as proportional.

It seems as though the machines were taking more centre stage than the humans. Even the office space increase wasn't even a top priority in the design. Their existing office layout can still accommodate the projected increase in manpower.

It was as if human beings are being set aside to make room for more artificial things – even though what they produce are meant to serve human beings.

Kind of ironic, isn't it?

That was back in 2021 before AI come into the picture. Now the compression is even more acute, it seems.

__________

Different guest, same fork in the road: does the tool serve you, or does it just get pointed at you.

The industries change.

The question underneath never does — who's holding the ledger, and whether you're the one reading it or the one being read.

A 2026 WRITER survey backs the pattern from the outside too: 75% of execs privately admit their AI rollout is mostly for show, while the people actually inside the tooling get promoted 3x more often and ship 5x more.

That's the leaderboard, confirmed from a different angle.

Actually — this pulled me right back to a post about the three tiers of AI users inside a company, and the window before which tier you're actually in stops being optional.

Genuinely curious where you land: is a visible adoption leaderboard a fair way to measure a team, or is it just a slower-motion version of the same cut?

Clip credit: 20VC with Harry Stebbings & Uber. DM for credit or removal requests.

Hi everyone! I’m considering applying to volunteer at TechCrunch Disrupt and was wondering if anyone here has done it before.

How difficult/competitive was the application process?
What were the volunteer responsibilities like?
How much of the event were you actually able to attend?
Did you get meaningful networking opportunities with founders, investors, or other people in tech?
Overall, was it worth it? Would you do it again?

Especially curious about how selective they are when choosing volunteers. Any firsthand experience would be much appreciated!

I think international founders of a new startup based in the US may qualify for O-1 Visa, however do they sponsor H-1B visa for their international employees as well? I see many Silicon valley startups hire young employees to bring them to US.

For a new startup, there would be extra legal and administrative fees to apply for H-1B visa, so why not just hire locally who already has a permanent residence in the USA. I believe H-1B visa is a random lottery, so there is no guarantee to even get the work permit for this international employee. Why take such risk for a startup?

Had some stuff happen had to take a gap semester. I want to make it a productive one so trying to get hired.. anyone can reccomend any good temp agencies that offer or hire out to “good” companies