Report: Apple reduces employees’ AI token allowances as Ternus moves to cut costs

According to Bloomberg, Apple has started limiting the daily usage of artificial intelligence (AI) tokens for its employees, with some engineers seeing their allowances reduced from $300 to $200 per day. Further cuts could bring those limits down to $100 daily, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company aims to curb AI spending as part of CEO John Ternus' cost-cutting efforts.

While there were no major reports of excessive AI token usage among Apple's employees, the tech giant is taking action amid rising costs of AI tools and growing concerns about productivity gains justifying the expense. Tokenmaxxing, the practice of maximizing AI token consumption, gained popularity alongside advancements in AI agents' coding capabilities, leading to internal leaderboards ranking employees based on their AI token usage.

Companies like Meta even introduced such leaderboards. However, as AI tool costs rise, companies like Accenture have reduced their centrally funded AI allowances, requiring additional spending to be covered by individual projects or teams. Apple's move comes as the company reported a 32% increase in R&D expenses to $45.8 billion in fiscal Q4 2026, driven by higher infrastructure and AI costs.

The extent of Apple's savings from the new restrictions remains unclear, as some employees weren't utilizing their full allowances. Still, employees have mixed reactions to the new spending limits, with some seeing it as a sign of broader cost-cutting and others expressing concerns over potential layoffs.