The token bill comes due: Inside the industry scramble to manage AI’s runaway costs
TechCrunch | 05.06.2026 21:49
Across the industry, companies are starting to balk at the price of AI. Uber blew through its entire 2026 AI coding budget by April. Microsoft revoked its developers’ Claude Code licenses months after enabling them. A Priceline employee told TechCrunch that a routine Cursor contract renewal came back 4-5x more expensive.
