CIOs are worried their AI budgets are starting to max out with nothing to show for the costs incurred. Uber COO Andrew Macdonald gave voice to the growing concerns when he said that he's yet to see direct improvements in line with AI spending. The rise of budget consciousness stands in stark contrast to the freewheeling " tokenmaxxing " culture some companies adopted as AI agents began to spread. Many companies didn't adopt the leaderboards that made the initial wave of tokenmaxxing go viral,