An agent that needs one function opens whole files to find it, and pays for every byte it loads. This furnace prices that habit for a team like yours, from public model prices and measured ratios, with every knob on the table. The national figures below are scale, not cause.
Official numbers, shown as published. Context for the size of the habit, not its cause.
The agent searches by reading. Every file it opens to find one function is billed in full. Rate for the team selected above.
A local index answers "where is it" first. The agent reads the passage it needs. Open source does this today; XERJ is one example.
No hidden model. Four numbers multiply. Every default has a source; every knob is yours. Set them where you believe they belong and the clock recomputes.
Two curves. Do nothing, or read the passage instead of the file. The gap is the story. Growth starts at the Gartner 2026 rate and tapers to the second knob.
Place of performance, FY2026 to date, contracts whose descriptions name artificial intelligence, machine learning or language models. USAspending.gov, live. This is the floor: most AI inside larger contracts is not labelled.
Who is awarding and who is receiving, FY2026 to date. Same filter, same source.
| Awarding agency | Obligated |
|---|
| Recipient | Obligated |
|---|
Teams tell us the same thing in different words: the monthly limit melts in days, and most of it went to the agent reading the tree. Put your numbers in. Names appear here only with permission.
Avoided share uses the overhead knob above. Post your card with the plugin and we will add your number, anonymised, to the corporate ledger.
Claude Code plugin: local index on port 9200, retrieval before reading, a score card at the end of every session. Nothing leaves your machine.
/plugin marketplace add nikolaichuk7/xerj-plugins /plugin install xerj-memory@xerj-pluginsThe plugin
Embed the live clock in one line. Pull the numbers from the open endpoint. Cite the methodology page. Ask for a state memo.
<script src="https://aiburnclock.org/embed.js" data-scope="world"></script>
Renders a 300×120 live counter with a link back. Data: /data.json, refreshed daily. Method: /methodology.html. Press kit: /press.html.
For a state CIO or budget office we prepare a one-page memo with your state's numbers, the sources, and a pilot that runs on one laptop with no procurement. Write to hello@aiburnclock.org with the state in the subject line.