#inference cost

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A bank of four brushed-steel mechanical usage meters in a daylit accounting room, three dial windows holding still digits while the fourth drum is caught mid-roll in a blur between two numbers

What Multimodal AI Actually Costs, Modality by Modality

A token has no modality, but a bill does. Priced out per image, per second of video, per training pair and per byte moved, multimodal AI turns out to be several different economic activities wearing one name.

By Brecht Corbeel · August 23, 2026 · 19 min read

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