“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way,” said Mark Twain. Discovering hard truths through hands-on experience is how everyone is learning AI . That includes this CTO of a Fortune 500 solutions integrator. So take it from me: You’re likely repeating the sins of our past.

How do I know? Confession time. We didn’t used to have a global contract with the frontier model providers. We do now, but back then, we had a bunch of well-meaning teammates swiping their corporate credit cards. For $20 a month, they got to do whatever they wanted. But once we looked closely at it, the realization came. We were spending a lot of money, and $20 a month for some turned into $100 to $200 for others. One agreement with all the model providers turned countless expense reports into a single line item that someone owns.

We fell into the next trap, not understanding the true cost of tokens .…