Prompt: Enterprises Grapple With Cost of AI Scale

SmileStudioAP via Getty ImagesEditor’s Note: Welcome to Prompt, your weekly briefing on the shifting AI landscape. We provide an analytical look at the week’s biggest developments, paired with a curated roundup of the stories that matter.A new report found that one in four AI dollars is wasted, underscoring a growing reality for enterprises: The challenge is no longer just deploying AI; it's controlling the cost of running it at scale. As AI spending spreads across the enterprise, managing costs is becoming as important as adopting the technology itself.The finding comes from AI software development platform vendor Harness' 2026 State of AI in FinOps report, based on a survey of 700 FinOps and engineering leaders. According to the report, more than half of organizations lack a dedicated owner for AI costs, making it difficult to track spending or identify waste.Organizations are also frequently using larger, more expensive models than necessary for routine tasks, while growing AI adoption is driving token consumption higher, even as per-token costs decline.Related:OpenAI Cuts Model Prices Amid Enterprises’ Concerns About AI SpendThe report reflects a broader shift in enterprise AI. For the past two years, the focus has been on deploying generative AI across the business. Now the challenge is ensuring those deployments remain financially sustainable as usage expands.The Harness findings weren't isolated.An EY survey released this week found organizations are continuing to invest in AI while paying much closer attention to token costs and ROI. Schneider Electric and AMD unveiled a blueprint for AI factories, another sign that enterprises are shifting from proving AI works to building infrastructure that can support it at scale.The shift was also evident in hyperscaler earnings, with Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta emphasizing deployment and infrastructure execution over simply increasing AI spending.Together, the week's developments suggest the next phase of enterprise AI will be defined less by how much companies spend and more by how effectively they manage those investments.Enterprise AI appears to be following a familiar pattern. Much like cloud computing before it, the early race to adopt the technology is giving way to a greater focus on managing costs, measuring returns and scaling deployments sustainably. Organizations that treat AI as an operational capability rather than an open-ended experiment may be better positioned going forward.Also in AI News This Week:Most US Companies Lack Mature AI Governance Frameworks: Despite growing investment in AI governance, relatively few U.S. companies have mature governance frameworks in place, raising concerns as enterprises deploy more autonomous AI systems.Related:Vendor Developing Self-Improving AI Signs $410M AWS DealFCC Blocks Chinese Humanoid Robot Imports, Citing Security Risks: The U.S. expanded restrictions on Chinese humanoid robots, citing national security risks as Washington intensifies efforts to strengthen domestic AI and robotics capabilities.Core Scientific Doubles AI Capacity to 1.1 GW in $14B AMD Deal: The company expanded its AI infrastructure plans to 1.1 gigawatts through a $14 billion deal with AMD, highlighting continued investment in the compute capacity needed to support growing AI demand.Nvidia Pushes Ahead With Security Alliance for AI Openness: Nvidia and dozens of technology companies launched the Open Secure AI Alliance to develop open AI security tools, arguing that greater openness will strengthen cyber defenses as AI systems become more autonomous.AI As a Mindset: A Growth Guide for CIOs: A new guide argues that CIOs must treat AI as an organizational transformation rather than a technology project, building cultures that encourage experimentation, learning and continuous adaptation.AI Drives Data Center Uncertainty in Uptime’s 2026 Survey: Uptime Institute's latest survey found AI is forcing operators to rethink power, cooling and infrastructure strategies to support increasingly demanding workloads.Related:Samsung Agrees to Chip Deal With Broadcom