For much of 2026, artificial intelligence inside large companies resembled an open-ended experiment. Employees were encouraged to use AI assistants as much as possible. They generated code, summarised meetings, analysed data and produced reports at unprecedented speed. In some organisations, using more AI became a badge of honour rather than simply a way to improve productivity.
That culture is now changing. New research from SemiAnalysis, based on conversations with more than 50 enterprise customers and discussions at the Databricks AI Summit, suggests companies are moving away from unrestricted AI usage and towards carefully managed budgets. Instead of rewarding employees for consuming more AI tokens, many businesses are now monitoring every prompt and placing limits on monthly spending.
