Model routing is a fix for AI overspending. That's a problem for OpenAI and Anthropic

Key points

• watch now A new spending discipline is taking hold inside corporate America, as chief financial officers and boards start cracking down on inefficient artificial intelligence spending.
• The change has the potential to reshape the AI trade.
• For the past two years, the playbook has been to default to the most powerful AI model and direct all queries through it, regardless of complexity.
• Now, with AI bills running far ahead of budgets, companies are starting to ask whether every task actually needs the top or frontier models.
• Two leaders at the center of the AI buildout told CNBC this week that a solution is emerging: model routing.