Executives Face Reality Check as AI Pricing Surges and Labor Savings Fade

A KPMG survey of 2,145 senior executives across 20 countries finds widespread confusion over AI costs, with 29% unsure where AI spending comes from and about a third lacking a plan to deploy AI productively. As usage-based pricing becomes standard, firms must forecast and monitor AI spending, challenging the old hope that AI subsidies would keep costs low. The piece also notes AI is used to discipline labor and justify layoffs or surveillance, and questions whether current AI advances will ever deliver scalable payoffs, especially since the bill is ultimately borne by workers who feel the strain.