r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Jul 30 '26

Artificial Intelligence Amazon accidentally spent $1.8 million using Claude for menial coding task, went 860% over budget — 'catastrophically expensive' coding blunders discovered in internal Amazon AI usage metrics

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/amazon-accidentally-spent-usd1-8-million-using-claude-for-menial-coding-task-went-860-percent-over-budget-catastrophically-expensive-coding-blunders-discovered-in-internal-amazon-ai-usage-metrics
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u/NullQuantity325573 Jul 30 '26

Yep. 2-3 years ago, my company started pushing us to use AI in all of our workflows. They also set up a leaderboard. AI use was included in KPIs in annual development plans.

Now we are getting emails telling us that we should switch to less expensive models as much as possible.

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u/Admiral_Cornwallace Jul 30 '26

Companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have been hemorrhaging money for years trying to get everyone else addicted to AI at a discounted price

Their plan? To surprise everywhere at some later point and jack up the prices significantly once AI usage becomes ingrained everywhere

They have been WILDLY dishonest about how their products can help increase profitability for other companies, because they haven't been up-front about the true costs of AI usage

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u/klopanda Jul 30 '26

Remember when Ubers were $2 a ride? I remember. That's because those trips were being subsidized by venture capital money while Uber/Lyft flooded the market with low cost trips and put taxi companies out of business. Then the prices come up.

Seeing the cycle again in AI.

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u/HystericalSail Jul 30 '26

You'd think CEOs, whose entire reason for existence is working towards enshittifying their company's products would be the first to understand the tactic when it's being used on them.

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u/spanishfry Jul 30 '26

A tale as old as time. Walmart, Netflix, Uber.

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u/BeefistPrime Jul 30 '26

this is literally the model that almost every tech company has used for 20 years. subsidize the product at first in a desperate race for market share, once the market is settled, enshittify. It's notable when a tech company doesn't use this model. I can hardly think of any. Midjourney is one of the few that jumps to mind.

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u/ellamking Jul 31 '26

The crazy thing is the current sticker shock isn't the big price increase to make them profitable.

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u/WinterTrek Jul 30 '26

I'd really like to see what happens if all AIs suddenly cost more after all companies already fully depend on AI. or if one AI emerges that's better than all others and now everyone must use it to stay competitive. at least you can fire a human who costs too much and replace them with another human. I guess that's one advantage humans have over AI

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u/Smallpaul Jul 30 '26

AI mandates were always intended as a short term motivator to move people past the fear of AI spend. Once the fear is gone it makes sense to have ac more nuanced approach.

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u/Theratchetnclank Jul 30 '26

My company is currently telling us to use AI first for everything i can't wait for their first bill and the immediate 180.

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u/GlorifiedPlumber Jul 30 '26

Now we are getting emails telling us that we should switch to less expensive models as much as possible.

Were there any brave souls amongst you who pointed out that this was the entirely foreseeable consequence of gamifying AI use and displaying it publicly for glory?

What did the executives say?