Forget AI KPIs: how China’s tech giants are rationing tokens for employees
- Posted on September 15, 2026
- By South China Morning Post
- 2 Views
- 1 min read
In brief
Major Chinese technology companies including Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are implementing restrictive token allocation policies for their workforce. These measures reflect growing concerns about AI infrastructure costs and usage management. Employees now face limitations on accessing premium AI models, with some required to share expenses for external AI tools. This shift highlights the financial pressures tech giants face while scaling artificial intelligence capabilities across their organizations.
Summary auto-generated by AI from the original publisher's content. Editorial standards.
Forget AI KPIs: how China’s tech giants are rationing tokens for employees
Employees at Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance all report tightening token policies, with some staff asked to co-pay to use US AI models.
