Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) is expanding beyond rides and takeout orders. The company now wants to turn its app into something closer to a job marketplace, specifically one focused on artificial intelligence training work.

From Driving Cars to Training AI

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi laid out the vision during Uber's Q3 earnings call on Nov. 4, telling investors that the company is much more than a transportation platform. "Another way of looking at our platform is that we're a platform for work," he explained.

The initiative, called Digital Tasks, will start as a U.S. pilot program and let users pick up short AI-related gigs through the Uber Driver app. It's already running in India, where participants help train machine-learning models by completing various tasks.

What makes this interesting is the range of work available. Some tasks are straightforward, but others require serious credentials. "Some of the roles require PhDs, for example, in physics, in order to get the gig done," Khosrowshahi said. And those higher-skill assignments come with better pay than what drivers typically earn from trips.

Hedging Against the Robotaxi Future

The timing here isn't accidental. Uber is pouring resources into self-driving technology, which naturally makes professional drivers nervous about their future employment prospects.

Back in 2023, unions including the Transportation Trades Department and the Transport Workers Union of America sent a letter to federal transportation regulators warning that widespread robotaxi adoption could threaten job security for professional drivers. Those concerns sparked increased regulatory attention on automation.

Since then, things have moved quickly on the regulatory front. Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation rolled out a new automated-vehicle framework covering testing and exemption processes for self-driving systems.

Multiple states have also updated their laws around robotaxis, revising permitting, insurance and testing standards. At the federal level, Sen. Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation in May aimed at establishing national standards for autonomous vehicles.

Khosrowshahi positioned Digital Tasks as a potential solution to these workforce concerns during the Nov. 4 earnings call, suggesting the program could provide displaced drivers with alternative income streams on the same platform. "We can empower other kinds of work as well," he said.

How It Actually Works

According to Uber's October announcement, the Digital Tasks program is completely optional and only available when drivers or couriers aren't on active trips. Before accepting any task, participants can see the estimated time commitment and payment. Once completed, earnings show up in their app within 24 hours.

Khosrowshahi noted that Uber has already attracted "a ton of customers" looking for human input to train their AI systems. He described it as an early-stage but promising piece of the company's evolution, with plans to eventually roll out Digital Tasks to earners across Uber's global platform.

Building Another Revenue Stream

"We think this can ultimately be another profitable line of business for us," Khosrowshahi said, drawing parallels to how ride-hailing and food delivery each started small before becoming major revenue generators.

The move puts Uber in competition with established players in the AI training space, including Scale AI and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Mechanical Turk, which pay users to label and annotate data for machine learning models. According to market research firm Research Nester, the data annotation tools market could hit $8.26 billion by 2026.

Whether Digital Tasks becomes a meaningful business line remains to be seen, but it represents a clever hedge. If autonomous vehicles do eventually replace human drivers at scale, Uber will already have infrastructure in place to offer those same workers different types of gigs. And if the robotaxi revolution takes longer than expected, the company will have diversified its revenue streams anyway.