Intelligence doesn't come cheap as AI drives up costs for the NSA, hospitals, and insurers
NSA will spend billions testing AI models while hospitals and insurers use AI in costly billing fights.
The National Security Agency told Congress it will spend billions this year testing advanced AI models, with computing power the largest cost and staffing inflated by competition with AI lab pay. Lawmakers expect full-scale AI oversight could reach tens of billions annually, far above a prior CBO estimate of about $20 million a year. Separately, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association says hospitals used AI-assisted coding to add nearly $1 billion over two years, about $12,000 more per case, while insurers use AI to deny claims. OpenAI plans about $856 billion in compute through 2030, and SemiAnalysis estimates Anthropic's API gross margin above 80 percent.