A techie at one of the WITCH (Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, and HCL) companies has claimed that the higher-ups are now throttling the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools by telling employees to be ‘mindful’ of it. In a social media post titled, “Companies sudden extended AI usage ask now tending to reduce,” the software developer detailed that ever since the rise of AI tools, the company was pressuring employees to use them to ship the products faster, but after major AI vendors introduced credit-based pricing systems, their strategy had changed.
“I am working in a WITCH company. Last week, they were pressuring and hosting multiple sessions on how to use GitHub Copilot (GHCP) more and more, asking us to use AI tools to increase productivity tenfold and all,” the user wrote in a Reddit post.
The techie explained that the new credit-based system kicked into effect from June 1, and the corporate directive shifted from rapid AI adoption to immediate cost-cutting.
“June 1, the new credit-based system has been applied. Now they are indirectly asking to be “Mindful” to use which model, and saying to reduce opus usage,” the user said.
“Lol, I find this funny but infuriating. Why did these guys even put their foot in without seeing the board of quicksand? I saw this GH scheme change coming a month ago when GitHub released it, and here they were doubling down on this.”
‘Reality Check’
As the post gained traction, social media users highlighted that companies that chased current trends by firing employees in order to save costs were now receiving a reality check.
“Now is a reality check for companies that made people redundant with the hope that LLMs will save money, and they don’t need people,” said one user, while another added: “Happening everywhere. Leadership likes to throw things at developers. You will be questioned both ways – earlier we were asked why your usage is low, and now asking why your usage is high.”
A third commented: “AI agents’ uncapped usage is being restricted. The people at the top of the leaderboard were just gaming it. It was unreasonably high.”
A fourth said: “WITCH companies just chase current trends to stay relevant. When the industry shifted to AI, they went all in on AI certifications and shoved Claude/Copilot subscriptions down our throats and now that the industry is worrying about costs, they have pivoted to cost optimisation as well.”