Days after Meta shut down its internal “tokenmaxxing” dashboard following news of the AI leaderboard leaking to the press, LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman came out in support of the concept that’s recently taken Silicon Valley by storm. An AI token is a small chunk of data processed when an AI model tries to understand a prompt and generate a response — it's also used to measure AI usage and determine costs.

Many companies are now tracking which employees use the most tokens as a proxy for understanding those who embrace AI tools more readily. Engineers, however, argue whether this metric is a viable measure of productivity in the workplace, akin to ranking people based on their spending habits.

Hoffman, speaking at Semafor’s World Economy summit, advised companies adopting AI that tracking employee token spend was a good idea. He suggested getting people from all functions engaged and experimenting with AI, emphasizing that some experimentation might fail but is essential for collective learning. Hoffman also highlighted the importance of regular check-ins to share experiences and insights.

For Hoffman, the key is not just in tracking usage but understanding how tokens are being used. Some employees may be using tokens in more random or exploratory ways, which is why it’s important to pair token tracking with an understanding of the projects people are working on.

Hoffman’s advice for companies includes embedding AI across the entire organization and regularly sharing experiences about new initiatives and lessons learned. He believes that some of these experiments will be “really amazing,” fostering innovation and productivity.