Jamie Dimon, CEO of America’s biggest bank says that the era of unchecked AI spending is over, warning that businesses must treat AI ‘like any other resource’ as costs rise sharply. According to a report by Business Insider, speaking in an interview on CNBC, Dimon said that the companies are becoming more disciplined about token spend which is the usage-based cost of running AI models and increasingly focused on return on investment. He also noted that the companies are already shifting queries to cheaper tokens, and that similar cost-squeezing will happen across power and data-centre usage as AI adoption expands.
Jamie Dimon said ‘We are very protective of our data and IP’
Dimon also noted a growing concern among executives: data security in the age of generative AI. “We are very protective of our data and our IP,” he said. “You should assume that JPMorgan will do everything they can to protect its own data, its own IP, to protect our customers.” His comments reflect a broader shift among large enterprises, many of which are tightening controls around proprietary information as AI vendors seek more access to customer data to improve model performance.
Rise of ‘modelmaxxing’
Dimon’s remarks place him among a growing group of business leaders advocating modelmaxxing — choosing the right‑sized, cost‑efficient AI model rather than defaulting to the most powerful (and expensive) frontier systems. This trend is a direct response to tokenmaxxing, where companies overuse high‑cost AI tools like Claude, Codex and Cursor in ways that add little value.Palantir CEO Alex Karp has been one of the strongest critics of tokenmaxxing, saying AI models have been “oversold” and that many companies are wasting money on tokens that deliver no meaningful returns. He even compared compulsive AI usage to porn addiction, calling it “demastinatory” behavior inside enterprises. Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman echoed the sentiment, saying unlimited token budgets were “boneheaded from the get‑go.” His analogy: “You don’t need a Ferrari to go to the grocery store… use a lower‑cost open‑source model.”
Jamie Dimon responds to him taking up ‘White House job
In related news, Jamie Dimon recently offered some fresh insight into what he might do once he eventually steps down from his position. Dimon said that he is more likely to write a book or teach than pursue politics. Speaking to Axios in an interview, Dimon said that he would focus on doing business ‘with people I like’ and possibly explore media-related projects. Dimon also addressed the speculation that he could be headed for the White House, saying there is “pretty much no chance” he would run for office. “I’m very hard-pressed to think I should be doing something like that,” he said with a laugh, adding that he’s never been part of a campaign. The JPMorgan CEO cited his age (70) and past health issues including emergency heart surgery in 2020 and throat cancer in 2014, as reasons politics is unlikely.