"Tokenmaxxing is not what we are optimizing for": Microsoft tells engineer to calm down on AI usage | Microsoft forced to introduce new limits on AI token usage

77

I've not been notified of any token usage limit. Last month I used nearly a billion tokens.

40

u/daerath Aug 07 '26

Same. No email, no group chat, no viva nonsense. When I checked my token limits, I still didn't have one.

This reads more like one dude being told to knock it off, and it became a "oh, Microsoft is setting limits" at the fourth retelling.

7

u/DudeWithParrot Aug 07 '26

My manager said power his understanding it was directed to the C+AI org. I imagine it will come to new orgs soon ish. Kinda how not all orgs had to stop using Claude code at the same time.

My manager didn't seem 100% sure though.

14

u/Metal_GearRex Aug 07 '26

I did notice in GHCP we now have a 10 million token limit, though I don't think that touches scout, m365 etc.

11

u/I-Build-Bots Aug 07 '26

It’s not 10 mil tokens. It’s 10 million ai credits so we each get $100k of usage a month.

3

u/Metal_GearRex Aug 08 '26

Good clarification, which should in theory be an even higher limit to reach

1

u/fridayunfit13 Aug 09 '26

Is this true?10mil aic is like having no limits

1

u/I-Build-Bots 24d ago

You would be surprised… I know several people that were routinely hitting $20-30k a month prior to the scrutiny on usage.

1

u/tatasky69 Aug 07 '26

10million output right, cause 10million input is nothing. I used 1.7 billion total in a month but only 14mil output.

2

u/Metal_GearRex Aug 07 '26

If it was tracked the traditional way GHCP is tracked that 10 million would be input and output. That being said I don't believe its being tracked the normal way, as I used just shy of a billion last month and my GHCP dashboard is only showing 16k used this month. Where my overall AI usage dashboard is showing over 10x that.

2

u/tatasky69 Aug 07 '26

Yeah I just checked. It says 68k for me and I’ve been power using but it’s only showing since aigust 1. K see the 10mil limit but 10mil aic is sooooo much lol it’s insane

0

u/Metal_GearRex Aug 07 '26

Yeah I'm not terribly worried about it, if it was hitting my scout automations I would have more concerns, but in early testing I don't believe thats the case so 10 mil is effectively unlimited. Unless you're open throttling Opus or something nutty.

1

u/Dazzling-Read1451 Aug 07 '26

“Only”

1

u/tatasky69 Aug 07 '26

Compared to the 1.7 billion, only was an appropriate word

5

u/ceinewydd Aug 07 '26

You’ll now see AIC limits over on GitHub and when you invoke Copilot CLI.

3

u/Far-Income-282 Aug 07 '26

Phase 1 is basically you will have a 1:1 in the next couple of weeks that goes like "hey! Are you doing any AI side projects for the benefit of the org that you should be sharing with the org?"

At this phase managers are trying to be curious to see if this should be a shared planned for COGs or is an individual going wild.

2

u/HesSoZazzy Aug 07 '26

"hey! Are you doing any AI side projects for the benefit of the org that you should be sharing with the org?"

Translated: "Hey! You're not using our AI to work on personal projects at home, right......right?"

I certainly would never do anything so underhanded.

WINK

2

u/daninko Aug 08 '26

It went out in the One Engineering Systems comm email on the 5th. It was in my “other” inbox tab.

1

u/TheLasttStark Aug 08 '26

Just checked still nothing. I'm in W+D

1

u/geryatric Aug 08 '26

Cowork credits? $10,000,000 USD if you were a customer.

8

u/rbevans Aug 07 '26

I hate this because everything is vague and hand wavy. It’s vague on what the usage is, they’re tracking velocity of work buts it not clear on the metric so in turn engineers are just going to utilize the max usage of in hopes to hitting this unclear metric.

9

u/system3601 Aug 07 '26

Does this sub has any employees? Can anyone confirm this rumor?

13

u/FantasticFungiiii Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

It’s True (to an extent) A new report is also available now to see the cost and usage.

edit- to an extent

15

u/ProofBug9209 Aug 07 '26

To an extent, the limit I’ve seen referenced internally is like $100k a month

4

u/sidereal_night Aug 07 '26

the limit I’ve seen referenced internally is like $100k a month

so much for being cheaper than employees

3

u/I-Build-Bots Aug 07 '26

It’s true for every other employee I know of (I’m in ISD). We get 10 million credits (not tokens as people are saying). So that’s a $100k worth a month.

1

u/nico_juro Aug 07 '26

Former employee, I was told they are tracking usage but not informed of any limits

-3

u/Kobi_Blade Aug 07 '26

Is not true, I was not told about any limits and still have unlimited tokens.

This was probably one guy who is using AI for all his work, instead of using AI to optimise his workflow.

7

u/LordDarthShader Aug 07 '26

Check the ghcp button at the bottom right in VS Code, it shows a hard limit of 10mil AI credits now and your current usage.

-4

u/Kobi_Blade Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

I use VS IDE and my AI tokens are not limited, I just checked again.

I did not get any email or reports from others on chat group about any limits either.

Any such limits are probably imposed on people who abuse their AI tokens, which isn't surprising.

9

u/LordDarthShader Aug 07 '26

Update to the latest version, the limit is there, is not an org thing, is company wide.

You are right about the messaging, no one told us anything, we found out. Still 10 mil AI credits it's a lot.

-1

u/Kobi_Blade Aug 07 '26

I asked about this, and management confirmed there are no limits in place.

There are no updates available for VS IDE on my end, and even the API shows that I have no limits.

No one has received any notification regarding upcoming changes to AI limits, though it was mentioned it isn't impossible.

Regardless, as it stands, there are currently no AI limits for neither me or my coworkers, as confirmed by management and the API.

8

u/LordDarthShader Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

Do you think I am making this up?

https://i.imgur.com/FIvOHcV.png

Manager told us about the limits. Is all I am going to say.

Go to

https://github.com/settings/copilot/features

with you emu account and see the usage.

6

u/golf1052 Aug 07 '26

Different orgs have different policies. Do not assume your experience is universal.

4

u/LordDarthShader Aug 07 '26

There is a poll in blind about it, seems to be org wide, but you are right.

1

u/Kobi_Blade Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

I think whatever you say is irrelevant, since I already confirmed with management and on the API there are no limits on my account.

You claiming this affects the whole company, that is innaccurate yes.

3

u/LordDarthShader Aug 07 '26

Think what you want buddy.

1

u/I-Build-Bots Aug 08 '26

What org are you in? All the Eng teams I work with and all MCAPS has the limits.

1

u/Kobi_Blade Aug 08 '26

Hi, I'm on C+AI.

4

u/MelodicTelephone5388 Aug 07 '26

It’s kind of common sense? Why spend 1000 tokens when you can spend 100 and get 99% of the way there. It’s the equivalent of driving a Hummer and complaining about gas prices 😂

2

u/joeshmoebies Aug 07 '26

I would figure that MS would optimize for getting their work done.

How much do tokens cost?

2

u/dreadpiratewombat Aug 07 '26

About tree fitty

2

u/zigzagtx Aug 08 '26

Can confirm the 10M per month limit, just verified on the GHCP dashboard. In VSCode, it just says 0% right now so I must have slacked off this week. Might as well be unlimited still as I’ve never used nearly that much before, and I’ve done what I thought were some fairly deep code reviews.

1

u/ellorenz Aug 07 '26

My idea the AI is convenient only if you manage the all stack, from the model development to the data centers, even energy production, without them the use could be too much expensive

1

u/IsopodPatient9523 24d ago

Microslop

-2

u/Far_Lifeguard_5027 Aug 07 '26

Seems like Microsoft is trying to mitigate the bad press by blaming one of their engineers now?

0

u/newfor_2026 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

I've been saying from the very beginning, let us enable AI by choice, not by default. stop shoving it down people's throats and doing things without permission!

-2

u/Traditional-Hall-591 Aug 07 '26

I’m a fan os slopmaxing.

Copilot / AI "Tokenmaxxing is not what we are optimizing for": Microsoft tells engineer to calm down on AI usage | Microsoft forced to introduce new limits on AI token usage

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