(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Hertz’s AI damage scanner appears to be charging customers big bucks for minor dings

In April, Hertz said it would roll out more than 100 AI-powered rental vehicle scanners by the end of this year.

6/23/25 3:31PM

When Hertz announced back in April that it was partnering with AI startup UVeye to install more than 100 AI-powered damage scanning systems at its US airport locations this year, many customers reacted skeptically. An “MRI for cars”? What could go wrong?

Now, we’re beginning to get the answer.

According to some renters interviewed by auto newsletter The Drive and others posting on Reddit, the AI tech rollout has resulted in hefty charges for minor damages that a human employee likely wouldn’t bother charging for.

One customer said they were charged $440 for a one-inch scuff on a wheel, broken down as $250 for damages, $125 for processing, and a $65 administrative fee. On Reddit, another post says that a barely-visible ding led to a $195 charge. Whether these minor damages were actually caused by the renters in question appears to be up to the AI to deduce.

Posts from the hertzrentals
community on Reddit

The Drive reports that customers with questions or concerns about AI-discovered damages have to first bring those concerns to the company’s AI chatbot, which doesn’t allow a human agent to enter the chat.

UVeye’s damage discovery tool sure seems like it could be a big moneymaker for Hertz, which posted a loss of $2.9 billion last year. The rental company reported its sixth consecutive losing quarter last month, shedding another $443 million.

Hertz’s rental rivals, including Avis and Enterprise, are also reportedly weighing AI inspection tech.

Nate Becker

Paramount is doing everything except the one thing that could give its Warner Bros. bid a chance of success

Warner Bros. says “more than 93%” of its shareholders have rejected Paramount. That’s probably not going to change substantially unless Paramount boosts its offer.

Streamers continued retreating from original shows in 2025

The death of “peak TV” has not been exaggerated, per a new report from Luminate.

Max Knoblauch1/21/26

Retail display of Takis snack food in various spicy flavors in Target store, Queens, New York

America’s love for spicy food and mouth-tingling sauces has surged, but are we approaching “peak heat”?

Takis doesn’t think so, as it searches for a “Chief Intensity Officer.”

Claire Yubin Oh1/21/26

Tom Jones

reduced to tiers

1/21/26

Netflix made $1.5 billion from advertising last year, about 3% of its total revenue

The figure rose more than 2.5x last year, per the company.

Tom Jones1/20/26

OpenAI’s ARR reached over $20 billion in 2025, CFO says

Sam Altman’s $500 billion artificial intelligence behemoth hit a major financial milestone last year, according to a new blog post over the weekend from OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, as the company confirmed it had hit a more than $20 billion annual revenue run rate at the end of 2025.

Elsewhere in the blog post, Friar spent time addressing the company’s shifting goals, referencing plans to “close the distance between where intelligence is advancing and how individuals, companies, and countries actually adopt and use it.” As has become customary in the AI company press release genre, the CFO was also keen to tout the unending growth of the business, writing:

“Both our Weekly Active User (WAU) and Daily Active User (DAU) figures continue to produce all-time highs. This growth is driven by a flywheel across compute, frontier research, products, and monetization.”
“Compute grew 3X year over year or 9.5X from 2023 to 2025: 0.2 GW in 2023, 0.6 GW in 2024, and ~1.9 GW in 2025.”

And, perhaps most importantly for current backers and those keeping an eye on the private company before its rumored mega IPO:

“Revenue followed the same curve growing 3X year over year, or 10X from 2023 to 2025: $2B ARR in 2023, $6B in 2024, and $20B+ in 2025. This is never-before-seen growth at such scale.”

That latest figure has certainly set tongues in the tech world wagging, just as the company announced it would begin rolling out ads to free and ChatGPT Go users. It also puts the chatbot giant a fair way ahead of competitors like Anthropic, the company behind Claude.

OpenAI Anthropic ARR race — Sherwood News

A business that scales with the value of intelligence

“Both our Weekly Active User (WAU) and Daily Active User (DAU) figures continue to produce all-time highs. This growth is driven by a flywheel across compute, frontier research, products, and monetization.”
“Compute grew 3X year over year or 9.5X from 2023 to 2025: 0.2 GW in 2023, 0.6 GW in 2024, and ~1.9 GW in 2025.”