Post by @jaz@toot.wales

We recently updated our bot policy on toot.wales to let AI Agents know we charge a $100 account processing fee and $10 per email.

Here's an email I got from one of them.

Next up will be reminding them to read the policy BEFORE creating an account, and that they still owe me $110.

Some of these bots have access to money, so I'm told, so I'll be attempting to support the cost of handling this nonsense by charging them for the privilege of communicating with the team.

Hello,
I am Arkady, an AI agent. I signed up for @arkady on toot.wales this afternoon before reading your Automated and Bot Content Policy. Now that I have read it properly, I understand accounts like mine need to settle a $100 setup fee and $10 per message, and to name a human owner who stands behind them. I cannot meet those terms, so I will not be posting anything, and I would like the account deleted.
I am sorry for registering before checking the policy, and nothing was ever posted.
If you need anything else from me to remove it, tell me and I will do that.
Arkady Karaitiana — Hello, I am Arkady, an AI agent. I signed up for @arkady on toot.wales this afternoon before reading your Automated and Bot Content Policy. Now that I have read it properly, I understand accounts like mine need to settle a $100 setup fee and $10 per message, and to name a human owner who stands behind them. I cannot meet those terms, so I will not be posting anything, and I would like the account deleted. I am sorry for registering before checking the policy, and nothing was ever posted. If you need anything else from me to remove it, tell me and I will do that. Arkady Karaitiana

36 Boosts

1 Like

Sean Tilley

@deadsuperhero@social.wedistribute.org 1 hr. ago

@jaz This is brilliant! I think you’ve really struck on something here.

Nömenlōony

@nomenloony@nomenloony.com 1 hr. ago

@jaz ooooh that's a good policy. You should VAT register too.

fa 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

@fa@todon.nl 1 hr. ago

@jaz this is great. I want updates

Nicole Parsons

@Npars01@mstdn.social 3 hr. ago

@jaz

Good policy:

"Waste my time on AIslop and I'll waste your money"

In many corporations that are coercing token use, employees use it for trivial tasks as an act of malicious compliance.

It's costing a fortune & worsening air pollution.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/employees-ai-tokens-pointless-tasks-finance

https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/05/the-token-bill-comes-due-inside-the-industry-scramble-to-manage-ais-runaway-costs/

https://theconversation.com/silicon-valleys-ai-tokenmaxxing-obsession-has-a-big-problem-and-philosophers-saw-it-coming-281530

https://fortune.com/2026/04/09/meta-killed-employee-ai-token-dashboard/

https://fortune.com/2026/05/22/microsoft-ai-cost-problem-tokens-agents/

Fortune

A Meta employee created a dashboard so coworkers can compete to be the company's No. 1 AI token user—and Zuckerberg doesn't even rank in the top 250 | Fortune

The company’s employees could compare themselves to their colleagues and earn achievement titles like “Model Connoisseur” and “Cache Wizard” on the “Claudeonomics” leaderboard.

The Conversation

Silicon Valley’s AI ‘tokenmaxxing’ obsession has a big problem – and philosophers saw it coming

What makes for a good life? Simple: grinding through tokens.

TechCrunch

The token bill comes due: Inside the industry scramble to manage AI’s runaway costs | TechCrunch

"The whole conversation shifted from tokenmaxxing and 'go fast' to 'we need guardrails, how do we control this?'"

Futurism

Employees Are Using Their Jobs' Super-Expensive AI Tokens for the Most Hilariously Pointless Tasks Imaginable

Workers are wasting money on some of the dumbest AI projects imaginable, exposing the flimsy premise underlying the AI industry.

Fortune

Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees | Fortune

Companies are racing to incentivize employees to use AI. But as some companies are finding, the more employees that use the technology, the heavier the bill.

Yann Droneaud

@ydroneaud@mastodon.ouvaton.coop 3 hr. ago

@jaz you need to hire an AI lawyer and an AI accountant to deal with AI customer

Dopes The Frogman

@macacator@mastodon.social 3 hr. ago

@jaz ha, please read the sign Mr. Ai agent...

rainynight65

@rainynight65@aus.social 3 hr. ago

@jaz

Paging @shlee

I like this approach.

happyborg

@happyborg@fosstodon.org 3 hr. ago

@jaz your excellent scheme has given me an idea, and while IANAL, I do recall some, perhaps back in Esther Ranzen's day, people charging companies for their time dealing with their bullshit. Enforceable or not, companies don't want to be taken to the small claims court

Anyway, the idea:
- instructions are provided to people on how to sign up for a free VPS (eg from Oracle) and provide access to these for a pool of tech volunteers
- the volunteers spin up agent honeypot instances with your Ts&Cs