The cost of programming with AI will exceed the average developer salary by 2028

▤ Summary

Gartner warns that the cost of programming with AI could exceed a developer’s average salary by 2028. The main driver is rising token consumption in LLM-based coding tools and a broader shift from per-seat licensing to usage-based pricing. The article also highlights weak cost transparency, limited optimization features, and poor governance as reasons software teams may lose control of AI spend. It recommends tighter use-case rules, smaller task decomposition, better context engineering, and token controls to keep costs in check.

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