Apple is cutting budgets for AI use within the company, a sharp reversal for the tech giant, which has been actively trying to integrate AI into its development processes in recent times.
Apple is cutting budgets for AI use within the company, a sharp reversal for the tech giant, which has been actively trying to integrate AI into its development processes in recent times.
Back in October, Apple lowered the daily AI spending limit for engineering departments from $300 to $200, TechCrunch reports .
However, the cuts won't stop there: the company plans to cut some daily budgets to $100. For employees outside of engineering departments, Apple is considering an even stricter limit of up to $25 per day.
At the beginning of the year, the technology industry was hit by a wave of so-called "tokenmaxxing," when companies massively forced their employees to use AI as much as possible for the sake of vague "performance indicators."
However, this hype was short-lived. When companies started receiving actual bills for the tokens they used, management concluded that rationalizing AI spending was a much more financially sound move.
For example, in October, Amazon updated its guidelines for its programmers, warning employees against “tokenmaxing.” In the new recommendations for engineers, management calls for a focus on real business results and customer benefits, rather than mindlessly burning tokens for the sake of pretty statistics.
Microsoft had previously taken action (in August) on AI spending after an employee spent $28,000 on tokens in just one month. After that incident, the company’s management, which had previously encouraged the active use of AI in development, decided to introduce strict daily limits.
Currently, the technology sector still faces a significant gap between the enormous costs required to develop and support AI work and the often questionable productivity gains that the technology actually delivers.
