The AI Token Cost Reckoning: Uber CTO, DoorDash, and Startups All Hitting the Budget Wall
Summary
Multiple first-person accounts of AI token spend becoming a real constraint. Uber CTO: 'our AI budget for 2026 was blown through by mid-March'; difficulty drawing a straight line from AI spend to new features shipped. Top 1% of Cursor users generate 30–40K lines of code/week (45x the median). Model routing vendors (Factory Router, Not Diamond, Prism, Kilo Gateway) are emerging to manage costs; most claim 20–30% savings.
Why this signal
The token budget pressure is a real operational consideration for Thomas Engineering's AI tool rollout. The model routing vendor landscape is useful context for Neo's potential infrastructure decisions. High signal for the broader picture of where enterprise AI spend is heading.
Original email
The Pragmatic Engineer · 5/28/2026
The Pulse: a trend of trying to cut back on AI spend within eng departments?