Token prices dropped 90%. My AI bill did not. Here is what I changed.

Token prices fell around 90% since 2023. Corporate spending on AI went up about 320%.

Both numbers are true at the same time, and if you run any kind of agent loop, you already feel it. 😅

This is not a billing bug. It is Jevons paradox, and it has been running in the background of every AI budget for the last two years.

The 160-year-old explanation

In 1865 William Stanley Jevons noticed that as steam engines got more efficient, Britain did not burn less coal. It burned more. Cheaper energy made new uses viable, new uses drove consumption, total spend went up while unit cost went down.