PYMNTS: CFOs Scramble as AI Breaks Traditional SaaS Billing — 78% of IT Leaders Hit by Unexpected Consumption Charges

PYMNTS·high signal

PYMNTS reports that CFOs now face AI invoices resembling utility bills — dense ledgers of token counts, model tiers, and throughput metrics that cannot be mapped back to business activity. Bessemer identifies the winning 2026 model as 'Hybrid' (platform fee + consumption), adopted by 85% of high-growth firms, while pure usage-based creates forecasting volatility. Enterprise AI spend averaged $1.2M in 2026 — a 108% YoY increase — with 61% of companies forced to cut projects due to unplanned AI cost spikes, creating a new CFO mandate around AI cost governance as a buying requirement.