Technology media Tom's recently reported that several tech giants, including Uber, are reevaluating the costs of using artificial intelligence (AI). The rapid development of AI technology has led to a sharp increase in the consumption of Token tokens, but this growth has not brought the expected functional improvements.

A report from Goldman Sachs predicts that as intelligent agent AI applications expand, Token consumption will grow 24 times by 2030, reaching 120 quadrillion Tokens per month. This massive Token consumption is increasing the demand for AI systems, potentially exceeding that of a single AI chatbot by 1000 times. Pravin Nipalina, Uber's technical director, stated that the company spent its 2026 AI budget in just a few months without providing truly useful functions to users. In a later interview, Andrew Macdonald, Uber's operations director, also pointed out that although the team delivered more code, the corresponding improvement in consumer experience was difficult to achieve.

Currently, over 80% of software engineers at Uber are already using intelligent agent AI, and more than 60% of the code is generated by AI. However, despite such a significant investment, management still questions the rationality of this expenditure, especially given that the budget is being consumed far beyond expectations.

Microsoft has also started taking measures to cut related costs. In December last year, Microsoft opened up subscription access to Claude Code for employees, but at the beginning of this year, it began to withdraw this permission, with plans to switch to an internal Copilot CLI. Meanwhile, Microsoft changed the billing method for Copilot on Hub to be based on Tokens, a move that has drawn attention from the outside world as it coincides with the end of the fiscal year, highlighting its cost control strategy.

Key Points:   

 Tech giants like Microsoft and Uber are re-evaluating costs, finding that increased consumption has not led to effective functional improvements.  

💸 Goldman Sachs predicts that Token consumption will increase 24 times by 2030, reaching 120 quadrillion Tokens per month.  

🤖 Over 80% of engineers at Uber use intelligent agent AI, but management still questions the effectiveness of the investment.