Employers Balance Employee Use of AI Tools for Productivity and Burnout Risks

Corporate Employers Reassess AI Stance as Computing Costs Mount

Big companies are grappling with the implications of their investments in artificial intelligence as computing costs rise and employees struggle to navigate the rapidly changing landscape. While some employers initially encouraged or pressured workers to experiment with in-house and third-party AI tools, many are now dialing back their expectations due to concerns about token costs.

Companies Adjusting to Rising Token Costs

Walmart Inc. has capped staffers' use of an in-house AI agent, according to people familiar with the decision. Uber Technologies Inc. is limiting each employee's monthly spending on certain AI coding tools to $1,500 per tool, after blowing through its annual budget for Claude Code, a popular tool from Anthropic PBC. Other companies, including Accenture Plc and Coinbase Global Inc., have told staffers that failing to embrace the technology could jeopardize their career development or even their jobs.

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Google's Success Creates Token Shortage

Google's success has made its computing resources so valuable that its own AI researchers sometimes have to get in line. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet Inc., recently noted that monthly usage of the company's AI products has increased sevenfold in the past year to 3.2 quadrillion tokens. "We've heard that many companies are already blowing through their annual token budgets, and it's only May," he said at the company's Google I/O conference on May 19.

Amazon Minimizes Tokenmaxxing

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Amazon Inc. has sought to minimize so-called "tokenmaxxing" by shutting down a leaderboard that tracked AI token use. The company reportedly told staff not to use AI just for the sake of using AI. Salesforce Inc., owner of the workplace productivity platform Slack, said last week in a webinar for customers that it's tracking how token use creates real business value.

Companies Struggling to Justify AI Investments

Most large companies are struggling to justify their ballooning investment in AI with actual efficiency gains, according to a new Bain & Co. global survey of large companies. The result is a muddled minefield that employees might struggle to navigate. "Companies have been driving their people to see who could use the most AI without a clear plan about why," said Siobhan Savage, co-founder and CEO of Reejig.

Employees Left Confused

At many companies, what it means to be AI-ready can vary and is often unclear. Often, it comes down to simply plowing through tokens. "Everyone is still figuring this out," said Helen Russell, chief people officer at software developer HubSpot Inc. "The playbook we've adopted, and one I would tell anyone to use, is more of a carrot versus a stick approach."

Leaders Ditching Carrots for Sticks

But as spending grows, and the fear of missing out on AI's promise spreads, many leaders have ditched carrots for sticks. Micha Kaufmann, CEO of freelance marketplace Fiverr, told employees in a memo that "AI is coming for your jobs" and warned that those who failed to embrace AI risked becoming obsolete.

BCG Survey: Senior Executives Plan to Continue Investing in AI

Some 94% of senior executives plan to continue investing in AI even if it does not pay off in 2026, according to a BCG survey published in January. However, companies might need to keep closer watch on usage, especially as budgets shift toward agentic AI designed to perform work tasks. Agentic AI is "uniquely expensive," consuming one-thousand times more tokens than more basic tasks since agents continue to soak up computing power in the background.