SAN FRANCISCO — An employee at a fintech startup here accidentally ran up an artificial-intelligence bill exceeding $81,000 in a single week while building a video game inspired by internet memes, according to the developer’s own social-media posts.
Nicolas Brillante, head of strategic verticals at the San Francisco-based firm Slash, spent a full day using Anthropic’s coding assistant Claude to create “Brainrot Shooter,” a game drawing on viral memes including “Tung Tung Tung Sahur” and “Skibidi Toilet.” The project was part of a company push to encourage greater use of AI coding tools to accelerate software development. On the timeline, each time Brillante asked Claude to analyze and then update large blocks of code, the AI token count climbed.
By the end of the week, the company’s AI bill had reached $81,267. Brillante posted a screenshot of his usage dashboard on X, calling it an honest mistake. “This was a genuine accident, I underestimated my own ability,” he wrote.
In a subsequent post, replying to a Polymarket post on X, he added: “This is actually insane, am I going to become a case study for how AI spend can get out of control.” The incident has ignited an online discussion about the hidden costs of AI-powered development. The record shows that what began as a harmless experiment in productivity turned into a costly lesson for the firm.
Sources familiar with the matter note that the episode underscores the need for businesses to enforce stronger spending controls and limits on employee use of advanced coding tools. Artificial intelligence is transforming how developers write software, the record shows. Still, one fintech employee learned that faster coding and greater productivity come with a hefty price tag after unintentionally spending more than $81,000 on excessive AI token usage in a meme-inspired video game.
Slash had encouraged employees to make greater use of AI coding to speed up software development. Brillante readily took on the challenge, spending a full day utilizing Claude to create the game. What seemed like a harmless experiment at first turned into a costly lesson.
Every time Brillante asked Claude to analyze and then update large amounts of code, AI token usage started racking up. The mistake has brought to light the need for businesses to enforce stronger spending controls and control over employee use of advanced coding tools.
As AI tools become more integrated into daily workflows, the question of who bears the cost of mistakes — and how companies can prevent them — remains an open one. For now, Brillante’s dashboard screenshot serves as a cautionary exhibit in the debate over the unchecked use of AI in software development.
