World Model Readiness What one run actually costs

Module · What one run actually costs

The AI Unit Economics Check

AI does not cost what the licence says. It costs per call, per token, per document, and the bill grows with use in a way that a flat subscription trained nobody to expect. The danger is a workflow that looks like a productivity win while quietly costing more than the work it replaced. This module checks whether you can see the cost of a single run, tie it to the value it creates, get warned before it runs away, and switch off the automations that lose money.

Question 1 of 5 · Cost per use is visible

Do you know what a single run of your main AI workflow costs?

Not the monthly bill: the cost of one run. One drafted email, one processed invoice, one answered ticket. If you only see the total, you cannot tell a cheap workflow used often from an expensive one used rarely, and only one of those is a problem.

Question 2 of 5 · Costs land on owners

Can you attribute AI spend to the team or product that caused it?

When AI cost sits in one central bucket, no owner feels it and nobody optimises it. Attribution, by team, by product, by workflow, is what turns an invisible shared expense into a number someone is accountable for and motivated to bring down.

Question 3 of 5 · Value is measured too

For your AI workflows, do you measure the value they create, not just the cost?

Cost without value is half the equation and the misleading half. A workflow that costs more than last year can still be the best money you spend if it produces more. The number that matters is cost against the value or the work it replaces, per use.

Question 4 of 5 · Runaways trip an alarm

If an AI workflow suddenly costs ten times more tomorrow, would you find out fast?

AI costs spike quietly: a loop, a larger model, a jump in volume, an integration calling in circles. Without an alert tied to spend, the first sign is the invoice at month end, by which point the damage is done and repeated thirty times over.

Question 5 of 5 · Losers get switched off

Do your AI automations have a cost line at which you switch them off?

Not every automation earns its keep, and the honest answer is to kill the ones that do not. A kill criterion set in advance, a cost or a cost-to-value ratio, turns switching off from an admission of failure into a decision you already agreed to make.

For the statistics · one click each

Three questions for the public picture

These do not affect your score. They feed the anonymised, aggregated statistics; groups under 8 respondents are never shown.

How well can you see what your AI actually costs?

One total bill only
By vendor
By team or product
Down to the run
We do not track it

Do you know whether your AI spend pays for itself?

No idea
We believe so
For some workflows
Measured and positive
Too early to say

Has an AI bill ever surprised you?

No surprises
Once
More than once
It is a running problem
We cannot tell

Your context

Used to calibrate the report. Company size and sector remain in the anonymized dataset; your email does not.