NVIDIA and Uber execs warn AI compute costs outpacing expectations
AI is getting pricey, so much so that top execs at Uber and NVIDIA are worried.
NVIDIA's Bryan Catanzaro shared that his team's AI bills are "For my team, the cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees.," while Uber's Chief Technology Officer Praveen Naga admitted their AI spending has already blown past what they expected.
Basically, companies are finding that using AI can cost more than just paying people.
Small team faces $113,000 AI bill
A lot of business AI tools charge based on how much you use them (think: tokens), not a flat fee. That means as companies rely more on AI for coding and automation, costs can skyrocket, like one small team getting hit with a $113,000 monthly bill.
Even though a 2024 MIT study found humans still beat AI in most tasks, tech leaders like NVIDIA's Jensen Huang are pushing for more investment in AI anyway.
At Uber, for example, 11% of live code updates now come from AI agents.