The Decision Audit

These tools are billed by the chunk of text they read and write — the industry word for that chunk is a token. Token spend is an input. Spending more of it is not evidence anything improved — any more than a rising cloud bill was. This audit asks the one question that separates spend from result: what decision changed because the tool was there?

• What it is: one table, one column per AI initiative.
• Who fills it in: whoever owns the AI budget, with the initiative leads in the room — the leads have the row-two stories.
• When: monthly, or before approving any increase in AI spend.
• Time: about thirty minutes for two or three initiatives.