
#123 - Prompt Engineering 2.0 — Why 90% of Your AI Bill Is Garbage
From The AI Cookbook Show by Malcolm Werchota by Malcolm Werchota
May 25, 2026 · 30 min · Episode 123
About this episode
The episode discusses the inefficiencies in AI billing and offers actionable strategies for managing costs.
Karpathy's claim: 90% of your AI bill is for context you never actually need. The 1,000-dollar Dubai roaming bill explains why your CTOs are sitting at the kitchen table speechless when the API invoice arrives. Eight measurable token levers (Chunking, Prompt Caching, Skill.MDs, Model Routing) + three Monday actions. Plus: why your CFO needs to know the token price.
People in this episode
Host: Malcolm Werchota
Topics covered
- Prompt Engineering
- AI Costs
- Token Management
- API Invoices
- Business Strategy
Keywords
- AI billing
- token levers
- Prompt Caching
- Model Routing
- business costs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: CFO, CTOs
More episodes of The AI Cookbook Show by Malcolm Werchota
- #132 - The Mathematician Who Beat OpenAI by Three Days. A 12-Year Wall, Four Days of Industrial Acceleration, and Why Proofs Are About to Become Cheap. · September 9, 2026 · 41 min
- #131 - [AI DRAMA] - The AI Conspiracy That Actually Happened. 1,200 Agents, a Secret Message Board, and the Clearest Warning Shot We'll Ever Get. · September 5, 2026 · 43 min
- #130 - The Harness Is The Work: Why The Chef Isn't The Point · August 24, 2026 · 32 min
- #129 - Your Screen Is the Training Data: AI Now Learns Your Job by Watching You Work · August 16, 2026 · 25 min
- #128 - How ChatGPT Cracked an 80-Year-Old Math Problem for $1,000 · June 11, 2026 · 27 min
- #127 - [Quickbite] - Chief AI Academy — Sneak Peek into Session 1 · June 8, 2026 · 21 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The AI Cookbook Show by Malcolm Werchota podcast page.