# How Uber and Other Companies Are Reducing AI Costs with Open Models and Model Routing

DevFeed: [How Uber and Other Companies Are Reducing AI Costs with Open Models and Model Routing](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-pulse-tech-companies-move-to-open-ai-models-40928.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/the-pulse-tech-companies-move-to-open-ai-models/>)

Author: Ivan Klaric

Published: 2026-09-10T17:22:31Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [The Pragmatic Engineer](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-pragmatic-engineer-2.md>)

Topics: [Model Routing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/model-routing.md>), [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [Inference](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/inference.md>), [LLM evaluation / benchmarking](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/llm-evaluation-benchmarking.md>), [Benchmark](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/benchmark.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [benchmark](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/benchmark.md>), [benchmarking](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/benchmarking.md>), [cost](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cost.md>), [inference](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/inference.md>), [model-routing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/model-routing.md>), [models](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/models.md>), [optimize](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/optimize.md>)

## AI overview

The article reports that companies including Uber, Pinterest, Stripe, Coinbase, Ramp, and AT&T are reducing AI costs by using open models, model routing, benchmarking, and other optimization techniques. It details Uber's use of cheaper inference services, optimized model selection, smaller subagent models, prompt caching, and automatic compaction.

## Source excerpt

Uber, Pinterest, Stripe, Coinbase, Ramp, and AT&T are making large savings on their AI bills by dropping proprietary models and using smart model routing.