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Firms spent heavily on AI. Now rising costs are outpacing its value

🇭🇰 public Hong Kong · · 194 words · By Agence France-Presse
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What to know about Firms spent heavily on AI. Now rising costs are outpacing its value

Now rising costs are outpacing its value All this artificial intelligence spending was showing no noticeable increase in productivity, Uber’s chief operating officer says AI is getting expensive – and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the…

Claims checked 5
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Now rising costs are outpacing its value All this artificial intelligence spending was showing no noticeable increase in productivity, Uber’s chief operating officer says AI is getting expensive – and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the…

Why it matters

Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, artificial intelligence companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene.

Common ground

Kevin Simback of start-up incubator Delphi Labs calls it the era of “subsidised intelligence” – meaning investors were basically footing the bill so companies could offer AI on the cheap.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3355439/firms-spent…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 5 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
verified Verified 1
check_circle Corroborated 1
info
Claim 1: “Prices are rising across the board and one big reason is AI agents”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim that prices are rising specifically because of AI agents is mentioned in the eNCA source (found in evidence for claim 4), but the other search results for claim 3 discuss implementation costs or general business installs rather than a broad market trend of rising prices caused by agents.
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web search NEUTRAL — For example, a customer service agent costs less than a supply chain ... How much do custom agent builds cost? Custom agents range from $25,000-$75,000 ...
https://www.acceldata.io/blog/enterprise-agentic-ai-implemen…
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web search NEUTRAL — 4 days ago ... We do $5-15k installs. Mostly for people that have more money than time and want someone else to deploy a faster more hardcore setup they can ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/AI_Agents/comments/1u6xnri/been_run…
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 22, 2025 ... Some awesome companies/people will not fear the change and do great. 1y · 1 like. Nguyen Hoang Khanh.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/698593531630485/posts/126646…
verified
Claim 2: “All this artificial intelligence spending was showing no noticeable increase in productivity, Uber’s chief operating officer says”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia entries for Uber and various executives, but none of the sources contain a statement from Uber's COO regarding AI spending and productivity.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Emil Girgis Michael (Arabic: إميل جرجس مايكل; born September 19, 1972) is an Egyptian-born American businessman. Michael was previously the senior vice president of business and chief business officer…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Michael
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research organization headquartered in San Francisco, consisting of OpenAI Group PBC, a for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC), partially contro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Rachel Marjorie Joan Whetstone (born 22 February 1968) is a British public relations executive. Whetstone was in charge of communications and public policy at Google for nearly a decade, and served as…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Whetstone
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 3: “artificial intelligence companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided consists of landing pages for ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepAI. None of these sources provide information regarding pricing strategies or 'rock-bottom prices' used to attract customers after the launch of ChatGPT.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Chat with the most advanced AI to explore ideas, solve problems, and learn faster.
https://chatgpt.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Meet Gemini, Google’s AI assistant. Get help with writing, planning, brainstorming, and more. Experience the power of generative AI.
https://gemini.google.com/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Whether you are a hobbyist, a professional artist, or a developer integrating AI into your product, DeepAI delivers advanced technology with new video, music, and voice chat features.
https://deepai.org/
verified
Claim 4: “Unlike a chatbot that just answers questions, agents actually do things – book appointments, write code and manage files”
VERIFIED
The eNCA source explicitly states that agents 'actually do things – book appointments, write code and manage files,' and the 'AI Agent vs Chatbot' source confirms they handle complex tasks by adapting to new information.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Want to see Maya Murad explain more about AI Agents?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8NKVhkZZWI
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Unlike a chatbot that just answers questions, agents actually do things, book appointments, write code and manage files. And they're expensive to run, because one task can spin up dozens of agents all…
https://www.enca.com/business/after-ai-binge-companies-balk-…
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web search NEUTRAL — AI Agents: AI Agents leverage Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze data, learn patterns, make decisions, and improve over time. They can handle complex tasks by adapting t…
https://www.revechat.com/blog/ai-agent-vs-chatbot/?trk=artic…
check_circle
Claim 5: “leaders OpenAI and Anthropic looking to go public and attract main street investors later this year”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results (WIRED and two other news reports) confirm that both OpenAI and Anthropic have filed paperwork to go public in June 2026.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 8, 2026 ... The ChatGPT-maker announced it has filed paperwork to go public, just a week after rival Anthropic took the same step.
https://www.wired.com/story/openai-confidentially-files-for-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 11, 2026 ... Instead, over the last few decades, the city has scaled back its payroll tax in an effort to entice tech companies to open (and then stay) in ...
https://missionlocal.org/2026/06/san-francisco-anthropic-ope…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 8, 2026 ... The confidential filing signals growing investor appetite for the artificial intelligence sector and could potentially set a new valuation ...
https://www.csba.org/expert-time/OpenAI-Files-for-US-IPO-Fol…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.