Uber drivers just launched a massive lawsuit, claiming an AI algorithm is secretly learning their weaknesses to pay them less.

Here's the full story, via The Guardian.

"Relating to about 241,000 drivers across the EU and the UK, the claim alleges that Uber has unlawfully used automated decision-making, including profiling, in dynamically setting pay and allocating work." The claim was filed at Amsterdam's district court, where Uber has its European headquarters, and is "the first collective legal move of its kind, according to the European Trade Union Confederation."

"The case centres on an opaque 'black box' algorithm fed on information about drivers, which sets a personalised rate for each ride. Drivers fear it pushes down fares to the minimum they are willing to accept." Driver Mohammed Shirwa put it this way: "It is like someone watching you all the time and knowing about your weakness, the boss is the algorithm. All the time the algorithm is learning about you and what you are willing to accept. So the prices go low but you are stuck. It knows you need the job."

Kola Oba, a driver in north London, was taking a break with another driver when they were offered the same job. "The other driver was offered £27 and Oba was offered £23. The pair suspected it was because Oba, 48, had taken several cheap jobs and the AI assumed he would accept a lower price." Oba's own words: "It's scary, they have all my information and they are using it against my own wellbeing. It defines how much I earn, how long I have to work, my time with my family, my resting time."

"The drivers claim Uber has operated dynamic pay-setting in the UK since 2023, pushing down their annual incomes by about £5,000." A 2025 University of Oxford study (which Uber says relied on incomplete and selective data) similarly "found there had been substantial cuts in driver earnings after the 'dynamic' algorithm was introduced."

The legal action is led by the Worker Info Exchange, founded by James Farrar, who "secured a UK supreme court ruling that Uber drivers should have worker rights." Farrar said: "It's bad enough that Uber's dynamic pay algorithms have squeezed driver pay for years now but the intrusive and underhanded way in which Uber uses its technology to monitor and influence drivers' behaviour is an affront to their dignity as workers and as human beings." Dutch lawyer Anton Ekker, leading the case, added: "A computer algorithm should not independently make decisions that strip individuals of their livelihood."

"While we haven't seen the claim yet, we categorically reject the allegations," an Uber spokesperson said. "The Uber app uses real-time information about the trip such as journey, duration and destination to calculate fares. Drivers see their earnings and where a trip is going before they decide whether to accept it. The vast majority of total fares continue to go where they belong: into drivers' pockets, and the percentage that Uber keeps from fares has remained relatively flat."

This comes just three weeks after Dutch regulators fined Uber €825 million for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequate notice (Uber is appealing). It's also worth noting CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's own 2023 comment: "I think that what we can do better is targeting of different trips to different drivers based on their preferences or based on behavioural patterns that they're showing us."

Source: The Guardian (Robert Booth): https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/02/uber-drivers-europe-legal-action-ai-algorithm

Want practical AI guidance for parents and educators every week? Subscribe: https://www.aibyage.com/?modal=signup&utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=newsletter