Chinese telecom giants are planning to charge consumers for AI tokens, capitalizing on the AI boom.
China Telecom introduced packages targeting casual AI users, developers, and businesses, citing “token operations [as] its central strategic focus.” Two other carriers are also betting that tokens — the units of data processed by AI models — will become the next billable unit of the digital economy, much like cellular data once did, the South China Morning Post reported.
In March, China settled on the term ciyuan as the official translation for tokens, a move suggesting Beijing is looking to shape the rules of the AI economy and expand its efforts to counter the US dollar’s dominance in global commerce to digital realms.