Apple has reduced the amount employees can spend on artificial intelligence (AI) tools, tightening internal usage limits as it seeks to manage the rising costs of AI adoption across its workforce.
The company lowered the daily AI spending allowance for some engineers from $300 to $200 in October, with further reductions under consideration that could bring the limit down to $100 for certain engineering teams, according to a Bloomberg report cited by TechCrunch on 4 November.
Non-engineering employees could also face tighter restrictions, with daily spending limits potentially falling to as little as $25. Several non-engineering teams already operate under a $100 daily cap.
The limits apply to AI tokens, the units of data processed by AI models when responding to prompts and carrying out tasks.
Employees requiring higher allowances will reportedly be able to seek exemptions from senior executives. Some teams are also being encouraged to switch to less expensive AI models or models that can run locally on their devices.
The move marks a shift from the earlier push by technology companies to encourage widespread AI experimentation among employees, towards closer monitoring of usage and spending.
Employee reactions have reportedly been mixed. While some workers said they rarely exhausted their existing daily allowances, others viewed the reductions as part of a wider cost-control exercise, raising concerns about possible restructuring and job cuts.
The restrictions reflect a growing effort to balance employee access to AI with the cost of running increasingly sophisticated models. For employees, this could mean greater scrutiny of the tools they use, the amount of AI computing resources they consume and the productivity gains expected from that spending.
Apple has not publicly disclosed how much the new limits are expected to save or whether the proposed reductions will be implemented across all teams.
