TL;DRPalo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora told CNBC that AI token prices need to fall by as much as 90% for large-scale enterprise adoption, calling OpenAI’s 54% GPT-5.6 efficiency gain “a good start” but not enough. He argued demand is “infinite” and costs will “rationalize over time.” His plea reflects a real paradox: per-token prices have collapsed while total enterprise AI bills keep rising, driven by agentic usage.
Palo Alto Networks chief executive Nikesh Arora says the cost of running AI needs to plunge before businesses can deploy it at scale. He told CNBC on Thursday that token prices may need to fall by as much as 90%, according to CNBC.
Arora was reacting to OpenAI’s claim that its new GPT-5.6 model is 54% more token-efficient on agentic coding. “I think 54% is a good start,” he said, making clear it is nowhere near enough.
He wants the trend to continue, with efficiency improving further over the next year and dramatically more the year after. Only then, in his telling, does mass enterprise adoption become affordable.
Despite the sticker shock, Arora is not bearish on demand. “The demand continues to be infinite,” he said, arguing that with an infinite demand curve, costs “will rationalize over time”.
