City.AI(@thecityai):The AI Subsidy Era Ends. Microsoft canceled internal Claude Code (Anthropic) licenses due to unsustainable token costs, while Uber exhausted its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. To counter soaring expenses, US AI software prices jumped 20% to 37%, forcing GitHub (Microsoft) to abandon flat-rate plans for usage-based billing. Rising costs compel enterprises to face the reality of scaling AI. As Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google raise prices, workflows built on assumptions of falling costs are collapsing. Enterprises must now either restrict AI usage—stifling lab revenues—or labs must cut prices and absorb losses. Either way, current AI valuations are becoming financially unsustainable.

2026.05.21 20:35

The AI Subsidy Era Ends. Microsoft canceled internal Claude Code (Anthropic) licenses due to unsustainable token costs, while Uber exhausted its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. To counter soaring expenses, US AI software prices jumped 20% to 37%, forcing GitHub (Microsoft) to abandon flat-rate plans for usage-based billing. Rising costs compel enterprises to face the reality of scaling AI. As Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google raise prices, workflows built on assumptions of falling costs are collapsing. Enterprises must now either restrict AI usage—stifling lab revenues—or labs must cut prices and absorb losses. Either way, current AI valuations are becoming financially unsustainable.