---
title: "Intelligence Per Dollar"
source_url: "https://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/"
ingested: "2026-06-05"
sha256: "95ec5901c264cff33c03386bbc780e3a3064bd582de8038c81850c33ce2fc51e"
type: article
tags: [article]
---

# Intelligence Per Dollar


Published Time: 2026-06-03T00:00:00Z

Markdown Content:
[![Image 1: Screenshot 2026-06-02 at 9.22.43 PM](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/w_1512,h_806,c_fill,g_auto,q_auto,f_auto/fczixgwvrhqhqt5uxfto)](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/q_auto,f_auto/fczixgwvrhqhqt5uxfto)

Yesterday Microsoft added a new metric to a model release card, one that will likely become a standard.[1](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fn:1)

Average token usage.

In the first row, the Microsoft model hits 71.6 on SWE-Bench Verified using about a third of the tokens Claude Haiku 4.5 burns.

Benchmarks are now measured on two different dimensions, the overall performance & the cost to achieve that intelligence.

This is yet another sign that the era of subsidies[2](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fn:2), tokenmaxxing[3](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fn:3), & all-out performance for many use cases is over.

Even the most valuable companies in the world cannot afford state-of-the-art intelligence for every conceivable use case.[4](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fn:4) Uber capped employee AI spending after blowing through its budget in four months.[5](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fn:5) Salesforce is spending $300M on Anthropic tokens & has frozen engineering hires.[6](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fn:6)

This new dual benchmark answers the buyer’s only question : what is my intelligence per dollar?

[![Image 2: Screenshot 2026-06-03 at 5.49.00 AM](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/w_1512,h_756,c_fill,g_auto,q_auto,f_auto/hnlfpw6c8qaurohqluul)](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/q_auto,f_auto/hnlfpw6c8qaurohqluul)

Artificial Analysis already benchmarks this.[7](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fn:7) GPT 5.5 & Claude Opus 4.8 land within a point of each other on the Intelligence Index, around 60. Running the index costs $3,357 on GPT 5.5 & $4,685 on Opus 4.8. Same answer, 40% more expensive.

Model companies must now compete on both dimensions. The application layer will compete one level up, on dollars per outcome, what a closed ticket, a shipped PR, or a resolved support case actually costs.

Every layer in the stack now has to price the same way the customer thinks : per result, not per token.

* * *

* * *

1.   [Introducing MAI-Code-1-Flash](https://microsoft.ai/news/introducingmai-code-1-flash/) — Microsoft announces a new coding model with average token usage on the release card.[↩︎](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fnref:1)

2.   [The Unsustainable Subsidy](https://tomtunguz.com/ai-model-inflation/) — The era of AI subsidies is ending.[↩︎](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fnref:2)

3.   [Tokenmaxxing](https://tomtunguz.com/tokenmaxxing/) — Models that game benchmarks with extra tokens are losing their edge.[↩︎](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fnref:3)

4.   [Microsoft cancels Claude Code licenses, shifting developers to GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/microsoft-cancels-claude-code-licenses-shifting-developers-to-github-copilot-cli-a-move-likely-driven-by-financial-motives) — Microsoft cancelled Claude Code licenses across its Experiences and Devices division (Windows, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, Surface) after engineering usage outran budgets.[↩︎](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fnref:4)

5.   [Uber caps employee AI spending after blowing through budget in 4 months](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/02/uber-caps-employee-ai-spending-after-blowing-through-budget-in-four-months/) — Uber caps employee AI spending after blowing through budget in four months.[↩︎](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fnref:5)

6.   [Salesforce Spends $300M on AI, Freezes Engineering Hires](https://enterprisedna.co/resources/news/salesforce-300m-anthropic-tokens-engineer-hiring-freeze-2026/) — Salesforce Spends $300M on AI, Freezes Engineering Hires.[↩︎](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fnref:6)

7.   [AI Model & API Providers Analysis](https://artificialanalysis.ai/) — Independent analysis of AI model costs.[↩︎](http://tomtunguz.com/tokens-per-result/#fnref:7)