Tokenmaxxing: The False Metric Destroying Affordable AI Development

The article critiques 'tokenmaxxing'—the trend of using excessive AI tokens as a mark of engineering productivity—as economically unsustainable and fundamentally misguided. This shift threatens indie developers who can no longer afford experimental iterations while enriching model providers, potentially ending the low-cost experimentation that historically drove software innovation. The author argues that thoughtful efficiency, not token consumption, should define engineering value.