# AI bubble heads and doomers seize on Sam Altman's remark that AI costs are a 'huge issue' for some companies > Source: > Published: 2026-06-04 21:15:45+00:00 Sam Altman said AI budgeting had recently become a "huge issue" for some companies — and it sent AI bubble watchers and doomers into a frenzy. During a [Tuesday enterprise event](https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-top-token-spender-ai-costs-issue-2026-6), Altman referenced memes like, "My company spent my entire 2026 budget in Q1." "That went from, at the beginning of this year, an issue that never came up — people were totally happy with the amount they were spending — to all of a sudden, a huge issue," Altman said. The reader response was loud. Some said that it was a warning of dark times or a failure in AI business model. The [word "bubble"](https://www.businessinsider.com/dan-loeb-ai-dotcom-bubble-big-tech-stocks-anthropic-investing-2026-5) came up often. Others said it was par for the course, a normal stage as people learn what to actually spend their tokens on after a period of experimentation. Commentators from Gary Marcus to [Michael Burry](https://www.businessinsider.com/big-short-michael-burry-tech-ai-stocks-valuation-earnings-sbc-2026-4) got involved. Here are some of the most interesting reactions. ## Some say it's a dark warning Ed Zitron, one of the internet's foremost AI bubble warners, wrote [on X](https://x.com/edzitron/status/2062349145264828551?s=20) that OpenAI was "absolutely cooked." "This is loser language," Zitron wrote. "You can't be four years into the bubble saying 'yeah our customers have a huge issue with how expensive our business is.' You just raised $122 billion!" — Anton Vuljaj (@anton) [https://t.co/36zWkjoBrv][pic.twitter.com/9R118TN34S][June 4, 2026] Programmer Eric S. Raymond (often referred to as ESR) [agreed that](https://x.com/esrtweet/status/2062506837597942184?s=12) the "bubble is popping." "Make no mistake, it's a hugely useful technology and uptake will continue, even accelerate," Raymond wrote. "But the overinvestment in datacenters that we've been seeing is not sustainable; the business model of the big providers doesn't work, and is floating on VC money." Academic and author Vivek Wadhwa [wrote that](https://x.com/wadhwa/status/2062395080619835652?s=20) it seemed like AI researcher [Gary Marcus](https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-marcus-moltbook-openclaw-security-concerns-2026-2) was right: "the AI revenue models are imploding." Marcus himself commented that the [death of tokenmaxxing](https://www.businessinsider.com/tokenmaxxing-debate-uber-exec-viral-ai-costs-2026-5) was "potentially a very serious issue for all three big IPOs." Michael Burry, the "Big Short" investor who's taken an [AI-skeptical turn](https://www.businessinsider.com/big-short-michael-burry-nvidia-stock-price-crash-ai-tokenmaxxing-2026-5), also referenced the story [on X](https://x.com/michaeljburry/status/2062294995634123089?s=20). ## Others say it's token misuse As the tokenmaxxing [frenzy dies down](https://www.businessinsider.com/token-reckoning-amazon-uber-reassess-ai-investments-2026-6), some engineers are wondering: are we spending in the right ways? Altman's comments may be less of a dark warning and more of a rational cost-benefit analysis. Google software engineer Patrick Toulme [commented that](https://x.com/PatrickToulme/status/2062340804933284284?s=20) "getting value out of agents is still too difficult for most engineers, so they end up just burning tokens." "80% of the economic value of LLMs come from 20% of the tokens," BCA Research's chief strategist [Peter Berezin](https://x.com/PeterBerezinBCA) wrote. "There is a long tail of dubious token usage that can be greatly curtailed without much negative impact on productivity." Token leaderboards are an epically bad idea — Randy Little (@randytlittle)[https://t.co/SdsovAmbmU][pic.twitter.com/g3diMQvd2n][June 3, 2026] Kun Chen worked at Meta, Microsoft, [and Atlassian](https://www.businessinsider.com/atlassian-layoff-global-workforce-attributes-it-to-the-ai-era-2026-3). He wrote that AI spending was "driven by FOMO," so some cutback was "inevitable." Still, he [remained optimistic](https://x.com/kunchenguid/status/2062430169139384332?s=12). "I'm bullish that real demand will slowly build up again," Chen wrote. Duckbill chief cloud economist Corey Quinn took a more ironic approach. He wrote that Altman was [starting to realize](https://x.com/QuinnyPig/status/2062393162820423855?s=20) that OpenAI's tokens — the tokens he sells — can be expensive. "Truly the Copernicus of his generation," Quinn wrote.