$1,500 per month, per AI tool, per engineer

$1,500 per month, per AI tool, per engineer. That's the cap Uber set last week for Claude Code and Cursor, after the entire AI budget for 2026 was exhausted in four months.

Using an AI tool is a bit like a candy store: you walk in with one thing in mind, but you're still there an hour later — because you keep asking follow-up questions, going deeper, and seeing if it can be even better. It doesn't stop, because it can always go a little further. Uber called this "tokenmaxxing", where engineers compete internally to consume as much as possible. Funny, until the bill arrives.

But the question I find genuinely interesting: what was actually delivered in those four months? What was built that wouldn't have existed otherwise, what was improved that would have stayed manual, what was automated that now saves engineers time? You rarely hear about that...

At OneMinded, we always ask the question that's missing here first: what should this concretely deliver? Not because AI isn't allowed to cost money, but because value per token matters.

And if you'd rather ask 'what should this deliver?' before the bill arrives: you're welcome to give us a call. 🙂