Meaning
The discipline of budgeting, optimizing, and accounting for AI input and output tokens to keep operational inference costs sustainable.
Three examples from work
Architecture review
LeadWe need to observe token economy by routing simple queries to lighter models.
DevWe can use Gemini Flash for classification and save frontier models for complex code synthesis.
Budget meeting
CFOOur AI provider bills are growing faster than active users.
POWe are implementing prompt caching to reduce token consumption by sixty percent.
Design planning
DevDo we need the complete transcript in every agent cycle?
ArchitectNo, summarizing intermediate steps is essential for sensible token economy.
Covers prompt compression, tiered model routing, semantic caching, and output length constraints to protect cloud margins.