Apple 將部分工程師每日 AI 預算上限由 $300 降至 $200
Apple cuts engineers’ daily AI budgets as it reins in spending
Apple 上月將部分工程師每日 AI 開支上限由 $300 降至 $200，並計劃進一步削減，部分工程團隊的上限或降至每日 $100。部分非工程員工的每日上限已為 $100，Apple 曾考慮將部分團隊的上限降至 $25；需要更多額度的員工可向高層申請豁免。Apple 2026 財政年度研發成本因 AI 及基礎設施開支上升 32%，部分團隊亦被要求轉用較便宜或可在裝置上運行的模型。
The Apple logo on the lid of a silver MacBook Pro.
Credit: Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Apple cut the daily AI spending cap for some engineers from $300 to $200 last month and plans further cuts, Bloomberg reports. It comes as CEO John Ternus pushes for a leaner Apple, while the company’s R&D costs rose 32% on AI and infrastructure.
Apple has cut how much some engineers can spend on AI models each day, from $300 to $200, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the change. It plans more cuts that could take some engineering teams down to $100 a day.
Many staff outside engineering already have a $100 daily cap, and Apple has considered lowering that to $25 for some teams. Employees who need more can ask senior leaders for an exemption. Apple declined to comment.
The budgets cover tokens, the units of data that AI models process. Writing and debugging code can use a lot of them. Apple staff can use Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, and some teams are being told to switch to cheaper models or ones that run on the device.
Reactions inside Apple are mixed, according to Bloomberg. Some staff say few people used their full $300 allowance. Others see the cuts as a sign of wider cost cutting and worry about layoffs, after Apple cut over 200 jobs in August.
Since becoming chief executive on 1 September, John Ternus has pushed Apple to run faster and leaner, and has cut layers of management. Some divisions have also hired outside consultants to review how efficiently they work.
Apple’s overall spending is still rising. Research and development costs rose 32% in its 2026 fiscal year on higher infrastructure and AI costs, the company said in its annual report this week. Operating expenses rose 22% to $75.5B.
Apple is not alone. Microsoft set division-level AI budgets in July, Tesla caps staff at $200 a week and Uber limits each AI coding tool to $1,500 a month. Accenture has gone further, capping Claude at $29 a month.
Across the industry, firms are capping staff AI use as their bills grow.
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來源：TNW · thenextweb.com