AI agents may not yet be cost-effective enough to replace human workers, according to tech investors who say usage fees and maintenance can exceed traditional salary costs.
Tech investor Jason Calacanis said he is paying around $300 per day, or roughly $110,000 annually, for an Anthropic Claude AI agent operating at only 10% to 20% capacity.
“When do tokens outpace the salary of the employee?”
Calacanis asked on the All-In podcast, questioning whether usage-based AI pricing can justify replacing staff.
Chamath Palihapitiya said AI models must be at least twice as productive as human workers to justify their cost, while Mark Cuban argued that token expenses and maintenance could make multiple AI agents twice as expensive as a $1,200-per-day employee.
Cuban questioned whether AI bots are more than twice as productive as humans and highlighted qualitative factors such as morale and ethics that cannot be easily measured in cost comparisons.
Despite concerns, some executives such as White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks argue fears of mass job displacement are overstated, while consulting firm McKinsey & Co has said AI agents are designed to automate tasks end-to-end.
In crypto markets, Jeremy Allaire of Circle predicted billions of AI agents could transact in stablecoins within five years, and Changpeng Zhao said blockchain may become the native financial layer for AI-driven activity as experimentation accelerates.