AI tokens getting cheaper but businesses paying more than ever

Businesses are looking for ways to measure the return on the billions being spent on AI. Some say they are "years away" from judging bottom-line impacts.

Australian businesses paying to use AI are weighing up what value they are getting from the disruptive technology.

"It's actually only really a relatively new thing that we have started to speak about," Anna Volkova, the head of people and culture at HR software company HiBob, told ABC News.

The platform has seen wins from using artificial intelligence, but it has been difficult to judge that against the mounting cost.

With AI capabilities changing so quickly, Ms Volkova said the business can "never catch up" with the need to redesign how it works to get the most out of it.

This has made it hard to work out precisely if the money is being spent effectively.

"We'll probably start to see impact to our bottom line in maybe two or three years, and I think most businesses are in that boat."

Jeremy Pell, whose firm Elastic helps companies to manage the cost of AI, agreed with that estimate.

Last week, Assistant Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy Andrew Charlton described the value flowing out of Australia via AI as a "distant sucking sound".

In a speech at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, he said Australians were already spending $5-8 billion each year on artificial intelligence.

That is just the start, with the government estimating local spending on AI could "plausibly" reach $20 billion to $40 billion annually within a decade.

Even a few years ago, AI was not a line item companies had in annual budgets.

Now, in the current reporting season for ASX-listed companies , you can measure it in billions.

The technology spend at Australia's biggest bank, the Commonwealth Bank, increased from $2.3 billion in the 2025 financial year to $2.4 billion in this most recent financial year. It lists savings too.