Australia’s Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has highlighted the increasing costs associated with artificial intelligence (AI) as tasks become more complex, criticizing the resulting production of what it refers to as “work slop.” The bank’s concerns reflect broader industry challenges, as advanced AI models lead to higher token consumption—costs tied to the volume of text processed—due to their enhanced reasoning capabilities and tool access. Additionally, unchecked AI output often results in a surge of low-value materials, prompting some executives to see the rising expenses as an essential measure against wasteful content generation.

Matt Comyn: Chief Executive Officer of Commonwealth Bank of Australia who addressed an Australian Financial Review conference in Sydney on AI-related spending. He highlighted how token-based pricing for corporate AI leads to non-linear cost increases as tasks grow more complex with added reasoning and tools. Comyn positioned tighter scrutiny of AI expenses as a key management priority through 2026 while noting a potential upside in reducing low-value outputs.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Australia’s largest bank by assets and a leading mortgage provider that is actively integrating artificial intelligence across its operations. The bank recently hosted an AI summit featuring OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and appointed what it described as the country’s first chief AI scientist at a bank. Its leadership is now addressing the emerging challenges of scaling AI use amid accelerating corporate adoption.

AI Pricing Model: Corporate AI users typically face usage-based costs tied to the volume of text processed, known as tokens, rather than fixed fees.
AI Scaling Challenges: Advanced AI models with greater reasoning capabilities, tool access, and contextual input cause token consumption to rise in non-linear ways compared to simpler early applications.
Productivity Concerns: Unchecked AI output can lead to increased volumes of low-value materials such as presentations and documents, prompting some leaders to view higher costs as a natural check on wasteful generation.