OpenAI is considering significant reductions to what it charges for tokens — the unit AI companies use to bill for services — as it anticipates similar moves from rival Anthropic, the Wall Street Journal reported June 10.
The potential cuts come as business executives have grown resistant to rising AI costs, according to the story. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the problem at a recent event, saying costs had become “a huge issue” and signaling the company would help customers “get more value for less spend.”
The pricing pressure reflects a broader enterprise spending reckoning, the Journal reported. Earlier this year, an Uber executive said the company had exhausted its 2026 budget for agentic AI.
For health system CIOs and AI procurement leaders, a price war between the two dominant AI platforms could meaningfully lower the cost of deploying large language models at scale — and increase pressure to justify current AI spending against measurable clinical or operational outcomes.
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