Digiday·2026-08-11

S4 and Monks are trying to get ahead of rising AI token costs

Rising costs associated with AI tokens are forcing marketing services groups to confront hard questions about how much they should be spending on AI. Token usage is “exploding” at Monks, according to co-founder and chief AI officer Wesley ter Haar. That’s to be expected, given the company’s client base of tech brands, production heritage and years-long investment in generative AI tools , but could

Rising costs associated with AI tokens are forcing marketing services groups to confront hard questions about how much they should be spending on AI. Token usage is “exploding” at Monks, according to co-founder and chief AI officer Wesley ter Haar. That’s to be expected, given the company’s client base of tech brands, production heritage and years-long investment in generative AI tools , but could