Y Combinator's Garry Tan says he spends up to $200,000 a year on AI agent usage, and calls the cost too high for most people

TechCrunch reports that Y Combinator's Garry Tan said on Walter Isaacson's podcast The Builders that he spends up to $200,000 a year on tokens, the metered text AI services charge for, to run AI agents. He called it a privilege that not everyone can afford, and said personal AI agents will go mainstream only if the cost comes down.

• If you try an AI agent, set a monthly spending cap or use a flat-rate plan first, so a long task cannot run up a surprise bill.
• Before you pay for a tool that runs agents for you, ask what happens when you hit the usage limit, and check whether the price is per use or per month.

Source: TechCrunch. This is our short summary of their reporting. The paragraphs marked "Our read" and the things to do are SeedFoundry's opinion. The summary is drafted with AI tools. Image: Y Combinator, from its own announcement. How we source and credit