Your agents have a spending problem (and your platform can’t stop for a rebuild)

Token prices have collapsed, yet the AI bill keeps going up. Meanwhile, the platforms underneath still need modernising, and the business can’t pause while you do it.

This Future Form covers two unglamorous problems that decide whether AI holds up in production: what it costs to run, and how to change critical systems safely while everything keeps moving. Expect a closer look at the tools, approaches and trade-offs involved, with ideas you can take back to your own projects.

Hosted by BlackRock. Pizza and drinks included.

Joe Petterson, Partner, QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey
Your agents have a spending problem
Why most teams burn through their AI budget by mid-year, and the engineering levers that cut inference cost by about half. Live demos: 16 models head to head on one task, quality against cost, and the point where self-hosting actually pays back.

Sandra Clarke, Vice President, Invested Compliance, BlackRock
The end of engineering heroics
How do you modernise a critical platform, embrace AI, and keep the business running? Sandra shares practical lessons on moving beyond engineering heroics: distributing ownership, strengthening operational discipline, and using AI and modern technology to enable transformation safely at scale

​If you’re working hands-on with AI tools or responsible for how software gets delivered, this session is for you.