Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road

Uber plans to offer drivers and couriers in the U.S. ways to make money through the company’s app when they’re not ferrying around people or food.

The ride-hailing company said on Thursday that it’s starting a pilot with its AI Solutions Group that will allow drivers to complete small online jobs. The example Uber gave is “uploading photos to help train AI models,” which the company said is already being tested in India.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the news at the company’s Only on Uber 2025 conference in Washington, D.C. Uber uses the event to reveal changes the company is making based on the best suggestions from drivers and couriers.

In prepared remarks, Khosrowshahi said Uber held “more than 60 Crew sessions with over 100 Uber team members, gathering hundreds of hours of feedback on everything from product design to policy changes,” before making product and business changes.

Meghan Casserly, an Uber spokesperson, said in an email that another example of a job drivers will be able to do is “recording themselves speaking in certain languages or accents (following prompts).” Casserly said that tasks will not be related to any of Uber’s autonomous partnerships or the development of driverless vehicles.

Pay for tasks will vary based on complexity and estimated time to completion. Drivers can see how much they will be paid before accepting a task.

The work is reminiscent of the small online jobs offered by Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, Upwork and other data labeling and freelance platforms. Uber said it doesn’t disclose the client names or nature of the specific AI-related projects that gig workers may be working on when completing a task.

Also on Thursday, Uber announced the official rollout of its women rider preference offering that pairs women drivers and riders. The service, which was introduced in July, will now be available for drivers in Baltimore, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. 

“In markets where it’s already live around the world, women drivers have embraced the choice — using it on more than 100 million trips,” Khosrowshahi said.

All Uber drivers can now set a rider rating preference to avoid being paired with a low-rated passenger, the company said on Thursday. Drivers can adjust their minimum rider rating level for different times of day or night.

Uber is also launching what it’s calling a delayed ride guarantee for drivers, ensuring that rides that take more than five minutes longer than estimated result in a higher payout.

“In some instances costs may be passed onto the rider,” Casserly said. It depends if a trip was delayed for something like heavy traffic or if more stops were added by the passenger.

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