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Under all the bluster of AI hype lies a real conundrum: companies are charging out-of-this-world prices for a tool that still can’t match the value of a competent human. As AI companies and their financial backers continue to dump billions of dollars into AI development, the consequences of that basic contradiction are spilling out into offices and shops throughout the US.
The fintech firm Slash, for example, recently encouraged its employees to start using AI coding tools as much as possible, a phenomenon known as tokenmaxxing, with the ultimate goal of boosting productivity and lowering costs. Unfortunately, LLMs are too expensive — and not quite useful enough — to really make that a reality.
At Slash, one employee wasted an astonishing $80,000 in AI tokens to vibe code a lackluster video game called “brainrot shooter.” As Business Insider describes it, the first-person shooter is a barren experience where the player runs around shooting at enemies inspired by viral internet memes.
“Pls play it so we can write this off as a marketing expense,” Slash wrote on social media.
We encouraged the company last week to start vibe coding more but @nickbruhman burned $80k in credits on the Slash card for a brainrot shooter
Pls play it so we can write this off as a marketing expense https://t.co/mgHfidJ2R9 — Slash (@slashapp) June 23, 2026
Elsewhere, office workers who’d been told to use AI as much as possible are incinerating incredible sums of cash on tasks that didn’t need LLMs in the first place.
At consultant firm Accenture, for example, 404 Media reports that non-tech workers are using corporate AI budgets to do things like convert PDF files into PowerPoint presentations.
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