
AI Hype Cools as Token Costs and Backlash Rewrite the Playbook
A Mashable opinion piece argues the AI hype cycle is shifting as a broad backlash grows beyond Silicon Valley: token-based pricing is tightening, data-center protests rise, and political moves push regulation or ownership ideas, forcing tech giants to rethink cost, hiring, and monetization as IPOs loom and optimism wanes.