#ai costs Tech News.

SemiAnalysis found that OpenAI and Anthropic subscriptions lose money when users maximize token usage. ChatGPT Pro 20x costs $200 monthly but would cost $14,000 in API tokens. OpenAI loses money on base plans if utilization exceeds 11.4%. Frontier models may shift to API-only access.

Companies facing rising AI costs are adopting tools that route tasks to cheaper models, including Chinese alternatives. Startups and tech giants are mixing models to avoid premium prices from OpenAI and Anthropic. This trend puts direct pricing pressure on the industry leaders.

Asana research found 82% of UK IT decision-makers faced unexpected AI costs in the past year. Six in ten report being highly or fully accountable for AI-driven outcomes. The costs stem from AI adoption happening across departments outside traditional IT governance.

Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code at Anthropic, said at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that comparing AI costs to human salaries misses the point. Claude Code generates an annualized revenue run rate exceeding $2.5 billion. Cherny noted that previously 50 million people could code, but now everyone can.

Companies now spend thousands to millions on AI token usage, matching or exceeding human payroll costs. Anthropic and OpenAI shifted to pay-as-you-go token pricing, with usage costs rivaling salaries. Nvidia VP Bryan Catanzaro says computing costs exceed employee costs. Microsoft cut 15,000 jobs and bought out senior executives in April 2026. Arvind Jain of Glean calls the cost parity unprecedented.

Uber capped engineers at $1,500 monthly per AI coding tool after burning its 2026 coding budget in four months. Agentic tools like Claude Code and Cursor drove adoption past 84 percent of 5,000 engineers. CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga said he was back to the drawing board after the budget evaporated.