U.S. Army burns through billions of AI tokens in Iran operation, exposing limits of generative tools

Key Points

• Ask Sage gave the Army 100 million tokens per year, but the unit burned roughly 20 billion tokens per day during Operation Epic Fury.
• A token equals about 3.7 characters of AI‑generated text or image output.
• The Defense Department and Ask Sage declined to comment on the consumption figures.
• Reports suggest the AI tools often produced unreliable results, with some models falsely claiming task completion.
• The Pentagon is shifting staff from the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence to develop an AI assessment tool.
• Meta and Uber have also faced runaway token usage, prompting internal caps and policy changes.
• Army personnel caution that indiscriminate AI use could hamper efficiency and trust within federal operations.