Apple cuts engineers' daily AI budget to $200

1. 22:03
   The Decoder

   Apple slashes internal AI budgets, with deeper cuts still planned

   According to Bloomberg, Apple cut some engineers' daily token budget from $300 to $200 last month, with plans to potentially lower it to $100 a day and as low as $25 for some non-technical teams, and employees needing more can request exceptions from management. Employees have access to Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Google's Gemini, and some teams will be shifted to cheaper models or AI that runs locally on devices. The cuts fit the direction of new CEO John Ternus, who has pushed to make the company leaner, even as Apple's R&D spending jumped 32 percent in fiscal year 2026, driven by higher infrastructure and AI costs.

2. 09:26
   TechCrunch · AI

   Apple is reportedly cutting budgets for its internal AI usage

   Bloomberg reported that Apple lowered the daily AI spending cap for its engineering teams from $300 to $200 in October, with some allowances reportedly falling to $100 a day and a limit as low as $25 a day being weighed outside engineering. TechCrunch has reached out to Apple for comment. The report follows a broader pullback in which companies that had pushed staff to use AI heavily began rationing tokens as bills came due.

3. 05:08
   Hacker News AI

   Apple Is Putting Employees on an AI Budget

   Bloomberg reports that Apple is curtailing employee AI use to cut costs, limiting some engineers to $200 per day for AI spending in October, down from $300, with possible further cuts to $100 and some teams capped at $25. Apple is asking some teams to use less expensive models or switch to on-device AI, and employees needing more can request increases from executives. Some Apple employees told Bloomberg that few were using their full $300 daily limit, so the savings may be small.

Trends compare the same fully observed participants, which may cover fewer participants than current activity. Move the pointer or tap the chart to inspect hourly activity; use the left and right arrow keys with a keyboard.