Enterprise AI Spend Gets A Reality Check
Executive Take
Cheap tokens don't mean unlimited AI spending, they mean leaders need to track which teams use tokens and whether the work pays off. Companies without approval gates and usage caps will overspend even as prices drop.
Executive Summary
As AI token prices fall roughly 10X per year (DeepSeek V4 Flash at $0.14 per million tokens vs GPT-5.6 Luna at $0.20 and Meta's Muse Spark at $1.25), enterprises are adding budget controls. Eightfold AI now requires cost approval before any AI feature launches, cutting one project's estimate from $2,000 to $400. Fewer than two in three organisations actively monitor usage with budget limits.
Why It Matters
Technology and finance leaders need this now because falling AI costs are tempting teams to use AI everywhere without checking if it delivers value. HR and operations leaders should also watch, since these budget controls will shape which teams get AI access and how performance gets measured.
Bizquad Perspective
Most leaders are still measuring AI success by cost per token, but the real fight ahead is over who owns the approval process, since that person controls which teams win or lose AI access.