Why it matters for marketers
AI tools are turning into a variable cost: the more your team uses them, the more you pay.
What happened
In April, Uber's chief technology officer, Praveen Neppalli Naga, told The Information that heavy use of AI coding tools, mainly Claude Code, had used up the company's full-year AI budget a few months into 2026. In June, Bloomberg reported that Uber had capped spending at $1,500 a month per employee for each AI coding tool.
In June Microsoft made its Copilot Cowork agent generally available worldwide, billed by use at $0.01 a credit, with spending limits set by each company's administrators. The FinOps Foundation's State of FinOps 2026 found that 98% of respondents now manage AI spend, up from 63% in 2025 and 31% in 2024.
State of FinOps respondents who manage AI spend
Chart: FinOps Foundation, State of FinOps 2026Timeline
- Announced
- April 2026
- At scale
- Spreading
- Jun 2026
- Microsoft starts billing Copilot agent work by use
Sources
