Thread

LLMflation: 10x cheaper per year

a16z · x.com

The headline numbers in thread form for a two-minute read.

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It answers 2 questions

  1. How much does it cost to run AI features, and how do I keep costs sane?
  2. How much do AI agents cost to run, and how do I keep the bill under control?

Read with it

  1. The single chart that explains why what is unaffordable today is cheap next year. a16z.com Article Welcome to LLMflation: LLM inference cost is going down fast a16z (Guido Appenzeller)
  2. The full stack of costs behind a token price, for founders selling AI products. introl.com Article Inference Unit Economics: The True Cost Per Million Tokens Introl
  3. Names the paradox every founder hits: cheaper tokens, bigger bills. navyaai.com Article AI Token Cost Over Time: Down 99.7%, Bills Up 3x NavyaAI
  4. Explains the quadratic context growth that quietly multiplies agent costs. leanopstech.com Article AI Agents Burn 50x More Tokens Than Chats LeanOps
  5. How large buyers model agent economics, useful when selling to them. ey.com Article Agentic AI Enterprise Token Cost EY
  6. Concrete per-task cost ranges from cheap chatbot turns to $5+ agent runs. cowork.ink Article AI Agent Cost: Token Economics & Optimization Guide Cowork
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