# What catches most companies off guard with AI? The speed with which small cos...
Canonical: https://social-archive.org/tgroenwals/sdjzW4Y34K
Original URL: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7458791625100759040/
Author: Clare Kitching
Platform: linkedin
## Content
What catches most companies off guard with AI? The speed with which small costs become massive ones. There’s been a lot of talk about the surprisingly high cost of AI. It seems many teams skipped the business case. AI isn’t cheap, but the reality is nuanced. Some AI tasks cost cents. Some cost dollars. Some run thousands of times a day. Others only a few times a week. Some save hours of work. Some are not worth automating at all. And the cost isn’t just driven by usage volume. The way you break down tasks, the tools you connect, the context you pass in, and the model you choose all change the economics significantly. A poorly designed workflow can cost 10x more than it needs to. Before you start building, understand whether it’s worth it at all. Start asking: ▶️ How many tokens will this use each time? ▶️ Which model is appropriate for the task? ▶️ What tools or context may increase costs? ▶️ How much time or revenue does it save? ▶️ Is the ROI worth it? That’s where the conversation gets interesting. A customer support workflow might cost a few cents. A proposal draft might cost less than a coffee. Larger research or coding workflows may be worth it given the faster time to market, growth or more customers you can serve. The important thing is whether the outcome is valuable enough to justify the spend… Just like any technology investment. AI costs become far less intimidating once you break them down properly. 🧮 I’ve started that process for you with a simple spreadsheet to help estimate AI costs by use case (and has all the asumptions from my infographic) Find it here: https://lnkd.in/giZQTgj9 What’s the most surprising AI cost estimate you’ve seen so far? ♻️ Repost to help someone get their AI costs in perspective. 🔔 Follow Clare Kitching for insights on unlocking value with data & AI. 💎 Get more from me with my free newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/ghBtk6jR