TL;DR Many companies rush into generative AI without realizing just how steep—and unpredictable—the associated expenses can be. Meanwhile, the cost of implementing generative AI in business can range from $0.0005 per 1,000 text units (tokens or characters) if you use a popular commercially available Gen AI tool to over $190,000 for a fully custom solution based on a fine-tuned open-source model.

2024 proved to be a watershed moment for generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI). A few months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, McKinsey researchers revealed that one-third of companies were already using generative AI in at least one business function.