Tokenmaxxing: Why AI Keeps Getting More Expensive — and What It Means for Leaders.

In this episode of "Between You and AI", Andrea Iorio (USA Today bestselling author and keynote speaker) unpacks a paradox catching companies off guard: AI promised to give us our time and money back, yet spending on it only climbs — and the results often don't follow. From tokenmaxxing to the quiet choice between tokens or humans, see why using more AI became a trap, and why choosing less is now the rarest competitive advantage there is.Key themes:AI's original promise — handing back time and cost — and Uber's COO admitting the link between AI spend and value generated "is not there yet"Seneca's diagnosis two thousand years ago, and Cal Newport's deep vs. shallow work: why busyness is human nature, not a 21st-century problemThe Jevons Paradox: why every efficiency gain triggers a demand explosion, never a leisure dividendWhat every HR leader needs to understand about tokens — and why token consumption became a live proxy for employee AI useThe concept of tokenmaxxing: burning maximum tokens as a status signal, from Meta's and Amazon's internal leaderboards to the backfireHow companies are clamping down: Microsoft's cuts, Uber's blown budget, and Salesforce's $300M AI billTokens or humans: why, per Glean's CEO, technology now costs the same as people — with AI budgets growing in place of new hiresThe final turn: why volume is no longer a signal of your work, and selectivity — using AI less, and better — became the skill of the decade.👤 Andrea IorioInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiorio_brLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaiorioWebsite: https://www.andreaiorio.com