Tokenomics will lead to opportunities in 'edge AI,' Citrini says

Citrini Research — the firm that sent the stock market into a tailspin with a report on AI's economic impacts earlier this year — warns that "Free AI is ending. Tokenomics is beginning." Tokenomics describes the economics of AI usage as measured by tokens, the blocks of text or code processed by large language models.

The firm says a workplace trend called "tokenmaxxing" — maximizing AI use to boost productivity and climb internal leaderboards — has driven token demand and rising bills. "The deepest pockets in the world — hyperscaler cash flow, venture capital, sovereign wealth, public credit, private credit, public equity — are footing most of the bill," it observed.

"Eventually, customers have to start picking up the tab." Citrini expects a spending-conscious phase driven by efficiency, including local inference — running models on devices such as PCs. Nvidia has recently doubled down on helping users do this through its new PC chip.

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