Some companies are tracking employee AI use on leaderboards

In short: Some workplaces are turning AI use into a competition, and the extra AI activity can drive up company costs.

What's going on

Some companies are using internal leaderboards to track how much employees use AI tools, according to a New York Times report. A leaderboard is a ranked list, like a scoreboard in sports. Employees can end up competing to move up the list by using AI more often.

This can increase spending because many AI services charge based on usage. A common unit is a “token,” which is a small chunk of text (think of it like paying by the number of words and replies). If workers run more prompts, generate longer documents, or use AI agents (tools that can carry out multi step tasks on their own), the total usage can climb quickly.

The report comes at a time when AI is becoming a normal workplace tool. Many teams now use chatbots and writing assistants for drafts, research summaries, meeting notes, and coding help. Tools such as Claude and Gemini are increasingly used across businesses, even when employees are not in technical roles.

What to watch

Companies may respond by setting clearer rules, budgets, or limits on AI use, especially for expensive tasks. Another likely step is better tracking of which AI use actually saves time or improves results, instead of rewarding raw usage. Employees may also see more guidance on when AI is appropriate and when it is not.

Source: NYTimes