The Sad Truth About AI "Tokenmaxxing" (It's a Waste)

Everyone's arguing about whether AI makes engineers faster. That's the wrong question. The real one: Is AI making your company more predictable? In this episode of the Return on Intelligence podcast, Andrew Amann and Nay Cook-Nelson break down the "tokenmaxxing" trend — why Uber reportedly burned its entire 2026 AI budget in four months, whether tools like Claude Tag are a Trojan horse for your company data, and why "owned intelligence" (not your token count) is the real competitive edge. If your AI strategy is still measured in tokens saved or tools adopted, this episode is for you. *⏱️ Timestamps* ``` 00:00 – The wrong question everyone's asking about AI 00:24 – Is Claude Tag a Trojan horse for your company data? 02:29 – The economics of paying per token 04:05 – Are your Pro & Max accounts really safe? 06:09 – Owned intelligence: API access vs. the "harness" 08:34 – Why swappable models matter (Notion, GLM, DeepSeek) 09:23 – Controlling telemetry: chat apps vs. the API layer 10:35 – Tokenmaxxing & Uber's 4-month budget burn 12:50 – Measuring real ROI instead of token counts 13:56 – Assigning tasks to AI agents 15:40 – Taste, hiring, and project selection 17:21 – How to measure "taste" when hiring 19:18 – The "Pokémon" candidate-profile tool 20:23 – Final takeaway + call to action ``` *🔗 Links & Resources* 📰 Subscribe to the AI newsletter (5,000+ readers): https://hubs.li/Q048GVnH0 📞 Work with NineTwoThree (companies doing $10M+): https://www.ninetwothree.co/discovery/ai Uber burned its 2026 AI budget in 4 months (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2026/05/26/uber-c... Anthropic launches Claude Tag (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2026/06/23/anthro... *📌 About* NineTwoThree helps business owners and leaders implement AI without wasting time and money — focused on predictable, stable outcomes and owned intelligence. 👍 If this helped, like and subscribe for more practical AI strategy. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIStrategy #Tokenmaxxing #EnterpriseAI #OwnedIntelligence #AIAgents #AIforBusiness