Tokens, tokens everywhere, but not a cent to spare
Companies are facing a significant challenge with the escalating cost of AI tokens as they adopt agentic workflows. Uber has already depleted its annual AI budget, and Salesforce is consuming trillions of tokens. This surge in demand is driving a ...
One of the biggest worries for companies is not just talent or raising the next round, but the rising cost of tokens as they move towards agentic workflows.
In the past few weeks, multiple companies such as Uber said that they had spent their entire annual AI budget in a matter of months, while others such as Salesforce are burning trillions of AI tokens.
This is occurring even as frontier companies are moving away towards usage-based pricing in line with rising demand. A Goldman Sachs report this May projected agentic AI to raise 24 times to 120 quadrillion tokens per month between 2026 and 2030. ET’s Swathi Moorthy looks at the agentic AI landscape and how companies are adapting:
