Use of artificial intelligence by big companies is exploding—and the soaring cost has some of them pumping the brakes in a way that could complicate AI’s triumphal march across the economy.
Executives across industries this year have urged employees to integrate AI tools into their work, spending freely to encourage experimentation and seeking to send a message to Wall Street that their companies won’t be left behind in a coming wave of disruption.
All that enthusiasm has resulted in skyrocketing costs for so-called tokens, the basic unit of measurement for AI computing, as AI model providers seek to balance supply and demand and manage their own costs. Some enterprises have hit their annual budget in just three months or reported seeing their AI spending bills double or triple.
“We’re still in the pretty early innings” for AI adoption, said Will McGough, chief investment officer at wealth manager Prime Capital Financial, which is invested in a number of tech companies and is closely evaluating the coming IPOs of giant AI startups. “Even massive companies are still figuring things out.”
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