Suspect 1: the Tonkotsu
Tare's AI helper, Kombu, writes replies to customers. Its bill rose from $4,652 to $53,250 a month. The number of messages didn't change.
Today's question: does it matter how long the AI's answers are?
Start the Stop 1 lab
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What you're really paying for
Try it
Ask the AI the same thing twice: once for a short answer, once for a long one. Press both buttons, in any order.
"In one sentence, tell a customer that the Tonkotsu contains milk."
"In around 400 words… tell a customer that the Tonkotsu contains milk."
What you just saw
Your numbers will change a little each time. That's normal. Look at how far apart they are.
Words you now know
These are the words vendors and engineers use. You can use them too.
- Input
- What you send to the AI. The cheaper part.
- Output
- What the AI writes back. About five times the price of input.
- Token
- The unit AI is charged in. About ¾ of a word.
So what for your business
AI is charged in two parts: what you send (input), and what it writes back (output). Output costs about five times as much as input.
Real systems vary. The AI may think before it answers, or take several steps for one request. Stops 3 and 4 show how that adds up.
Ask your vendor or team: "What stops a single request from running up a large bill? Is there a limit on how much the AI can write, think, or how many steps it can take?"
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