Agentic AI Contracts Risk Runaway Costs, Info-Tech Research Group Warns
Agentic AI's shift to consumption-based billing from per-seat licensing exposes organizations to runaway costs with limited recourse, according to Info-Tech Research Group. Machine-driven tasks are difficult to forecast, and vendors define billable usage.
Organizations adopting agentic artificial intelligence face significant risks of escalating and uncontrollable costs due to the technology's shift towards consumption-based billing, a new analysis from Info-Tech Research Group suggests. This transition away from traditional per-seat software licensing models introduces complexities in governing software expenditures.
The research group highlights that the autonomous nature of agentic AI tasks makes them inherently difficult to forecast in terms of resource consumption. This unpredictability, coupled with how software vendors define and measure billable usage, can lead to rapid cost overruns. Companies must therefore re-evaluate their strategies for managing and controlling software spend.
Agentic AI enables sophisticated automation and independent operation, but this capability necessitates enhanced oversight and budgeting protocols. Organizations need to establish clear policies and monitoring mechanisms to track the deployment and operational costs associated with these AI agents.
Info-Tech Research Group advises businesses to scrutinize their existing contracts and implement robust controls to ensure cost transparency and manageability. Without adequate governance, the potential benefits of agentic AI may be overshadowed by unforeseen financial liabilities.