Your AI bill is lying
The real costs are everything else
In this newsletter:
The rise of AI cost consciousness
What many leaders are missing
How to implement this playbook
PS: Check out my latest video over on YouTube:
The rise of AI cost consciousness
The money you spend on AI subscriptions and API bills is visible. The money you spend on time wasted, duplication, and inefficiency often hides in your management reports.
The rise of AI cost consciousness is what I’m calling the intense focus in recent months on how much AI is costing some businesses. If you’re using APIs or coding agents at enterprise scale, every token can add to the bill.
And the pricing for the best models isn’t cheap. When you read about senior Uber executives complaining about blowing their Claude Code budget for 2026 in just a few months, you can see how that happens.
This is because of both the capability and the marketing. GPT-5.6 Sol can just do more for you at a higher level of quality. If you’re on a subscription plan, using it up to the limits or even stacking multiple $200/month plans is something I increasingly see among power users.
When you have worked in the corporate world or run a business, you know that it is quite normal for departments to have a budget and be managed to that budget. For some commentators on social media, that sounds outrageous, and increasingly I think that they’re not wrong.
