Yes, when subsidized tools push toward profitability, costs will rise. That's why context is more critical than ever.
Agents with better context (pipeline logs, repo histories, security scans) waste fewer tokens. They get to the right answer faster with less exploration and fewer retries.
As you build your AI stack, think carefully about where and how you'll use context in your workflow. That's what will keep you delivering results even as the price of inference goes up.
There is massive irony in how AI coding tools are starting to become TOO expensive for many enterprises - after eg Anthropic removed subsidizing AI subscriptions.
We might go from "everyone use AI for everything!" to "you have $300/month AI budget; use your brain for the rest."