Palantir has become the latest company to tout its use of AI tokens.
On its earnings call Monday, CTO Shyam Sankar said Palantir customers are burning through record numbers of tokens on the company's AI platform, AIP, because their cost is falling so quickly.
Tokens are the building blocks of AI. Each one roughly makes up about ¾ of any word that's processed by a chatbot, and AI companies often charge based on how many tokens are used.
"Tokens are the new coal," Sankar said, adding that "AIP is the train."
He pointed to Jevons paradox, the idea that gains in efficiency increase overall consumption.
"When the Victorians built more efficient steam engines, everyone assumed coal consumption would fall. Instead, it skyrocketed," Sankar said.
Palantir, which builds bespoke software and AI systems for government and business clients, posted strong first-quarter results.
Its US revenue doubled year over year to $1.28 billion, while total revenue jumped 85% to $1.6 billion.
At the same time, Palantir is trying to strike a balance. Sankar repeatedly said that Palantir stands against AI slop by calling itself a "no slop zone."
Instead of blindly burning through tokens — or what developers call tokenmaxxing — Palantir says it focuses on ensuring its AI delivers real value, rather than spinning up dazzling demos that go nowhere.
"More tokens means more slop," Sankar said.
