About this episode

The episode discusses the transition from the AI subsidy era to a new phase characterized by token scarcity and its implications for AI competition.

One of the most consequential AI months of 2026, May marked a major shift from the AI subsidy era into a new period defined by token scarcity, usage-based pricing, enterprise sticker shock, and a broader scramble for compute. NLW argues that the next phase of AI competition will be shaped by who can access, afford, optimize, and deploy AI tokens most effectively. Sign up for AI Executive Catchup: ⁠https://aiexecutivecatchup.com/⁠ Brought to you by: KPMG – Research from KPMG and the University of Texas at Austin shows the highest-impact AI users treat AI like a reasoning partner — and those skills can be taught at scale. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠kpmg.com/us/Sophisticated⁠⁠⁠⁠ Outsystems - Stop wondering how AI will change your business and start building the agents that will lead it - http://outsystems.com/ Scrunch - The AI customer experience platform - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://scrunch.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Zenflow Work - Agents for knowledge work - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://zenflow.free/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Blitzy - Want to accelerate enterprise software development velocity by 5x…

People in this episode

Host: Nathaniel Whittemore

Topics covered

• AI competition
• token scarcity
• usage-based pricing
• enterprise software
• compute resources

Keywords

• AI tokens
• enterprise sticker shock
• compute scramble
• AI pricing
• AI usage

Sponsors

KPMG, Outsystems, Scrunch, Zenflow Work, Blitzy, AssemblyAI

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Texas at Austin

More episodes of The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

• How to Use /Goal to Do More With AI · May 31, 2026 · 22 min
• Claude Opus 4.8 First Impressions · May 29, 2026 · 28 min
• The Case for an AI Token Tax · May 28, 2026 · 23 min
• The Annual AI Slowdown Panic is Here · May 27, 2026 · 30 min
• What the Pope Actually Said About AI · May 26, 2026 · 26 min
• The 4 AI Team Members Execs Should Hire Right Now · May 25, 2026 · 32 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis podcast page.