Companies are scrambling to stop employees from maxing out AI budgets with small tasks
Companies are scrambling to stop employees from maxing out AI budgets with small tasks
各大公司正忙于阻止员工因处理琐碎任务而耗尽 AI 预算
The era of tokenmaxxing is over. After the AI industry encouraged companies to max out their AI budgets earlier this year, and some companies even built employee leaderboards to encourage internal AI usage — they are now realizing just how easy it is to spend huge sums of money on AI and get little in return. We now appear to be entering the era of token rationing.
“Token 消耗战”的时代已经结束。今年早些时候，AI 行业曾鼓励各大公司尽可能多地投入 AI 预算，一些公司甚至建立了员工排行榜来激励内部使用 AI；然而现在，他们意识到在 AI 上投入巨资却收效甚微是多么容易。我们似乎正进入一个“Token 配给制”的时代。
Recent news has been rife with stories about AI cutbacks and now 404 Media reports that consulting firm Accenture has been attempting to stop its employees from depleting its token reserves by using AI to do basic tasks — like converting PDFs into presentation slides. The cutbacks take place not long after Accenture threatened that employees would “risk losing out on promotions” if they didn’t use AI, 404 writes.
近期，关于削减 AI 开支的报道层出不穷。据 404 Media 报道，咨询巨头埃森哲（Accenture）正试图阻止员工将 AI 用于处理基础任务（如将 PDF 转换为演示文稿），以防止 Token 储备被耗尽。404 指出，就在不久前，埃森哲还曾威胁称，如果员工不使用 AI，将“面临失去晋升机会的风险”。
404’s reporting is based on leaked audio from a recent internal meeting involving Accenture’s agentic AI strategy lead, Justice Kwak. “We’re hitting this inflection point where AI is becoming material to the cost structure,” Kwak says. “Spend is becoming very unpredictable; and leadership, especially at the CFO, COO, and CIO level, are still asking the question of whether they’re getting value from what we’re spending on in the context of AI.”
404 的报道基于一段近期内部会议的泄露录音，会议涉及埃森哲的智能体 AI 战略负责人 Justice Kwak。Kwak 表示：“我们正处于一个转折点，AI 正在成为成本结构中的重要组成部分。支出变得非常不可预测；而公司高层，尤其是首席财务官（CFO）、首席运营官（COO）和首席信息官（CIO）级别的人员，仍在质疑我们在 AI 方面的投入是否真正获得了价值。”
The cost of tokens has thrown into doubt the AI business model — as evidenced by what’s being called the “AI selloff” which has battered some AI-dependent businesses the last few days, especially memory chip makers. The AI industry has reached the stage where it can’t just be exciting and new anymore. It has to prove its worth.
Token 的高昂成本让 AI 商业模式陷入了质疑——这一点从被称为“AI 抛售潮”的市场表现中可见一斑，过去几天里，一些依赖 AI 的企业（尤其是存储芯片制造商）遭受了重创。AI 行业已经到了不能仅仅依靠“令人兴奋”和“新颖”来维持的阶段，它必须证明自己的价值。