#123 - Prompt Engineering 2.0 — Why 90% of Your AI Bill Is Garbage

#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

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