Microsoft Employees Face Scrutiny Over Excessive AI Token Consumption

Microsoft employees are under scrutiny for excessive AI spending after internal data revealed some workers are consuming large amounts of tokens. A voluntary spreadsheet shared by around 600 US employees showed that about 350 reported AI consumption, with a median monthly spend of $300.

The CoreAI division had the highest average at $975, followed by Security at $526 and Microsoft AI at $490. However, individual spending varied widely within these groups, with some employees recording usage as high as $16,000 in CoreAI, $15,000 in Cloud and AI, and $10,000 in Security.

One employee in the Customer and Partner Solutions division reportedly racked up $28,000 worth of tokens in just 28 days. Although this figure may be an extreme case or even an error, it has drawn attention to how employees are using AI resources.

Microsoft is now monitoring token consumption more closely to identify individuals with unusually high usage. The company had previously encouraged staff to experiment with AI but has stressed that the focus should be on meaningful outcomes for customers and the business, not on excessive token consumption.