‘Pretty Crazy’ Token Usage Is Testing Bosses’ Bet on AI

Article excerpt

Two companies are grappling with an unexpected cost crisis in their AI deployments: their token usage is exploding far beyond initial projections. A Silicon Valley software maker and an ecommerce company reveal to WIRED how they're navigating the economics of large language models, where every word processed incurs a charge. The gap between what executives budgeted and what they're actually spending threatens to undermine the business case for AI, forcing teams to rethink their implementations. The challenge exposes a hidden complexity in the AI gold rush, the math that looked great on a spreadsheet doesn't always survive contact with real-world usage patterns.