Amazon’s $1.8m Claude blunder shows AI’s runaway costs

Amazon spent $1.8 million on a failed AI project, and didn't notice the overrun for five months

Amazon spent $1.8M on a Claude Sonnet project for product-author matching that failed and remained hidden for five months, with costs 860% over budget. Variable usage-based AI pricing eliminates cost predictability—teams now face visibility gaps and budget leaks that traditional infrastructure never exposed, requiring new governance.