OpenAI board chair says companies won't worry about token costs in a year

Token costs for AI are becoming a big headache for finance chiefs, but OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor thinks companies won't have to worry about them in a year. Tokens are the basic units AI models use to process text and charge fees, and rising costs have already pushed some firms to cut AI spending and rethink returns. In a CNBC interview, Taylor said service providers will take over token management, so companies won't need to handle complex usage and pricing. He predicts billing will shift to results-based models, similar to how building a website was expensive early on but got cheaper later. Taylor noted that Ramp has launched a token spending tool, and legal AI firm Harvey manages tokens for clients. He believes that in 12 months, IT teams will be great at deploying AI tools for different tasks, and companies won't even need to think about tokens. As models get more efficient, token costs are expected to keep dropping.