Executives say AI ROI is about outcomes, not token counts

At Mistral AI's summit in Paris, four executives were asked how they measure AI return on investment. Strikingly, none began by talking about how many AI tokens employees were using. Charles Holive, chief AI officer at BNP Paribas CIB, said his team focuses on outcomes rather than what he called "vanity metrics." "We try to go away from vanity metrics — billions of tokens per day," he said.

He asks instead: "What did you do, you didn't do before? How much faster did you do it?" Antoine Pichot of La Banque Postale said the bank gauges AI by whether it makes employees more efficient, improves customer service, and delivers value for money. Amit Kapur of Tata Consultancy Services looks to see whether AI is improving business performance rather than tracking token consumption.

Sujay Bhattacharya, who helps large companies adopt tools from multiple AI providers, said customers are increasingly focused on overall cost and business value.

France, Paris

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