# Everyone Says AI Is Too Expensive. They're Wrong.

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/asiandadenergy-s-substack-podcast-7711112/everyone-says-ai-is-too-expensive-they-re-wrong.md
Podcast: [AsianDadEnergy's Substack Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/asiandadenergy-s-substack-podcast-7711112)
Published: 2026-06-09T14:43:36+00:00
Episode link: https://asiandadenergy.substack.com/p/everyone-says-ai-is-too-expensive
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/201306692/34d862ae9a823ffbd5e705b2b9d55a5c.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/asiandadenergy-s-substack-podcast-7711112/episodes/everyone-says-ai-is-too-expensive-they-re-wrong
Duration seconds: 853

## Resource

Every few weeks, a new headline appears claiming that AI is becoming unsustainably expensive. Companies are reportedly burning through millions of dollars a month on AI subscriptions. Some organizations are discovering that employees can consume astonishing quantities of tokens when every workflow becomes an AI workflow. There are even stories circulating of teams whose AI bills now exceed the cost of the employees using the tools. For many people, these stories confirm a suspicion they have been quietly nurturing all along. Maybe AI isn’t economically viable. Maybe the entire thing is a bubble. Maybe the costs will eventually become so overwhelming that widespread adoption simply won’t happen. I understand why people feel that way. There are enormous emotional and financial stakes involved. Entire industries are being disrupted. Careers are being questioned. Businesses are being reshaped. Some people stand to make fortunes while others worry about becoming obsolete. But after spending decades in the technology industry and watching wave after wave of disruption unfold, I have reached a different conclusion: AI is already cost effective today. And it is almost certainly going to become dramatically cheaper tomorrow. The Cost Problem Is Already Being Solved Most discussions about AI costs focus on the wrong question. People look at today’s prices and assume those prices are fixed. They aren’t. The history of technology is a history of making expensive things cheap. Computers were once available only to governments and large corporations. Cell phones were luxury items. Internet access was expensive. Data storage cost a fortune. Then competition arrived. Innovation happened. Costs collapsed. AI is following the same pattern. What makes the current moment particularly inte…

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## Transcript

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