To understand AI costs, track spend per customer and per feature. Without that detail, it is difficult to see what is driving costs or whether an AI use case is paying back.
Set up cost visibility
- Identify the AI features and customers whose usage needs to be measured.
- Track spend at both the customer and feature level.
- Set budgets and alerts so rising spend is visible early.
- Review cost alongside performance when evaluating a use case.
Troubleshooting: total spend is rising but the cause is unclear
If you only see an overall bill, you may not be able to tell which customer or feature is driving the increase. Add cost attribution at those levels and review usage before deciding what to change.
The Knowledge Elephant includes cost and performance in its readiness assessment and considers whether costs can be measured and managed as an AI capability moves toward production.