> On what planet do people start paying for things without keeping an eye on the costs and no-one notices until you have spent a crazy amount? I don't understand. You are either paying a fixed amount which you are happy about in-advance or you are PAYG in which case you would ballpark how much it costs.

The AI rollout has in large part been about giving management an opportunity to say "fuck you" to engineering.

Engineering payroll needed to be slashed and the C-Suite was happy to let their managers get some lashes in on the uppity workers.

The point of AI is:

1. It's bad engineering and everyone knows it.

2. Management is pushing it through anyway.

3. Deal with it, asshole.

The ROI is besides the point. It's about breaking the spirit of engineering labor with irrational decisions made outside of their control.

Edit: It is just as much about affirming the exalted status of management in comparison to labor. It's a bitter reinscription of the status hierarchy in tech; Management is good and labor is bad; Management is considerate and labor is ignorant; Management is strong and labor is weak; Management is superior and labor is inferior.