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Back to EpisodesThe End of Tokenmaxxing: How Lindy's DeepSeek Switch Signaled AI's Great Efficiency Reckoning - July 5, 2026
Published 1 week, 3 days ago
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The End of Tokenmaxxing: How Lindy's DeepSeek Switch Signaled AI's Great Efficiency Reckoning - July 5, 2026
After two years of "tokenmaxxing," where companies burned as many AI tokens as possible without regard to cost, enterprises have hit a spending wall. The efficiency turn crystallized when AI agent startup Lindy moved its traffic off Anthropic's Claude to the cheaper open weight Chinese model DeepSeek, reporting roughly ninety percent lower inference costs on migrated routes with performance holding steady. We dig into the economics of inference, the incentive reversal from growth to efficiency, and the geopolitical wrinkle of Western firms leaning on Chinese open weight models to stay on budget.
Hosted by Rick Spair and Laura.
The DX Today Podcast brings you daily deep dives into the most consequential stories in the AI ecosystem.
#AI #DeepSeek #Anthropic #AIEconomics #TechNews