AI Jargon Buster
AI news and the language around it, simplified.
What is Infrastructure Overhead?
Infrastructure overhead refers to the ongoing, often silent costs required to keep AI systems operational. While a software subscription might have a fixed price, the actual use of that tool requires significant resources behind the scenes. This includes the cost of storing massive amounts of data, the electricity needed to power the specialized hardware that processes information, and the security measures required to protect sensitive company information. These expenses are separate from the software license and can grow as your team uses the tool more frequently.
Why this matters to you
Failing to account for these costs leads to significant budget overruns. Because these expenses are often tied to how much you use the system, they can scale up unexpectedly as your team integrates AI into their daily workflows, making it difficult to predict the true total cost of ownership.
How you might hear this
Our budget for the new AI tool looks low, but we have to account for the infrastructure overhead required to host it securely.
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