I taught Claude to talk like a caveman to save my AI tokens. It became unusable — and I learned a lesson about virality.

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Alexander Huso is pictured.
Alexander Huso taught Claude to talk like a caveman to save on output tokens.

Alexander Huso

Y Combinator's guide to being an AI-native company: tokenmaxx, don't headcountmaxx

Tech Insider : Business
The Y Combinator logo is pictured.
Y Combinator partner Diana Hu said that maximizing token usage will be "the critical shift."

Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Some startups are tokenmaxxing. Others tell us it's a 'stupid' trend that will die out.

Tech Insider : Business
Hassan Ismail, Brennan Lupyrypa, and Kavitta Ghai are pictured.
Startups take different strategies with token spending, from hard budgets to minimum quotas.

Hassan Ismail; Brennan Lupyrypa; Kavitta Ghai

Top Indeed exec details why they'll never have a 'Tokenmaxxing'-esque leaderboard

Tech Insider : Business
Indeed's headquarters in Austin, Texas
Indeed CIO Anthony Moisant said the company previously made the mistake of following easy-to-track metrics like token use that aren't tied to outcomes.

Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Box CEO explains why he's ok with engineers wasting some AI tokens right now

Tech Insider : Business
Aaron Levie speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Aaron Levie speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Visa is burning through nearly 2 trillion AI tokens a month — and rewarding employees for building faster

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Visa's president of technology Rajat Taneja.
Visa's president of technology Rajat Taneja.

Big Event Media/Getty Images for HumanX Conference

'Tokenmaxxing' has techies debating if leaderboards tracking AI token use are a good idea

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
A man at a computer
The "tokenmaxxing" trend is stirring up debate among software engineers online about how to best measure AI productivity.

Getty Images

Startup CEO says he's proud his 4-person team racked up a $113,000 monthly AI bill

Tech Insider : Business
A man wearing glasses looks at a chart with a blue line rising.
Startups are spending a ton of cash on monthly AI bills. A CEO said he's proud of his six-figure monthly bill.

Maria Korneeva/Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang can't stop talking about tokens. Here's what they are and how they're reshaping AI budgets.

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Jensen Huang onstage at GTC, wearing a black leather jacket standing in front of a blue background.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

JOSH EDELSON / AFP via Getty Images

Jensen Huang floated AI tokens as part of engineers' compensation. Sam Altman says they could one day be a form of universal basic income.

Tech Insider : Business
Jensen Huang gestures under an image of a belt during his 2026 GTC keynote
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang celebrated an analysis that showed his company is the world leader in token costs, claiming the title of "Token King."

Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images

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