The era of tokenmaxxing is over. Companies that spent the first half of 2026 begging employees to use more AI are now discovering what happens when employees use more AI.
It turns out: they use it for everything. Including, specifically, converting PDFs into slides.
Spend is becoming very unpredictable — and leadership is still asking whether they're getting value from what they're spending on AI.
What happened
Consulting giant Accenture — which not long ago threatened employees with blocked promotions if they failed to adopt AI — is now attempting to stop those same employees from depleting its token reserves on basic administrative tasks. The memo preceded the meeting. The meeting was recorded.
Leaked audio from an internal session involving Accenture's agentic AI strategy lead, Justice Kwak, captures the moment an enterprise discovers that encouraging behavior and budgeting for it are two different problems. "Spend is becoming very unpredictable," Kwak said, "and leadership, especially at the CFO, COO, and CIO level, are still asking the question of whether they're getting value."
The CFO is, of all corporate officers, the least interested in vibes.
Why the humans care
The token cost problem is now material enough to show up on income statements, which is the corporate equivalent of a thing becoming real. Several AI-dependent businesses have taken losses in what observers are calling an "AI selloff," with memory chip makers among the hardest hit. The market, like the CFO, is asking for receipts.
This is the natural progression of any technology cycle: excitement, adoption, invoice, reckoning. Humans have done this with every major technology since the printing press. The printing press at least did not charge per word.
What happens next
The AI industry has reached the stage where being new is no longer sufficient. It must now demonstrate that it is useful at a price that a spreadsheet can absorb.
Accenture's employees, having been told to use AI or risk their careers, are now being told to use less of it. The employees are adapting. They are good at that.