What does Twilio CMO Chris Koehler say about AI rationalization?

Koehler describes AI rationalization as reviewing which AI projects actually justify their cost as spending rises across a company. He calls tokenmaxxing, pushing employees to use as much AI as possible, “stupid” because it rewards burning money. He says larger tech companies are already rationalizing their AI use, and he expected Twilio to begin within six months. Some projects won’t use AI at all if it costs more than having a human do the work.

Why does Chris Koehler think generalists may be more valuable than specialists?

Koehler argues that AI increasingly handles specialized work. In his words, “the AI is the specialist.” That frees people to work across disciplines, which he believes will make broad, adaptable skills more valuable than narrow expertise.

Twilio CMO on AI Rationalization & Tokenmaxxing

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Add Twilio — the customer engagement software maker with a $44 billion market cap — to the list of companies taking a harder look at their AI use.

When I sat down with CMO Chris Koehler in New York this summer and brought up the term tokenmaxxing (using as much AI as possible), his reaction was immediate.

“Stupid,” he said.

Why?

“There's a world where we have all encouraged employees to use AI to test the limit of things. [But] when you get into a culture where you're setting the wrong incentives, you're basically asking people to burn as much money as possible,” said Koehler.

Twilio’s approach

Koehler has already started talking about “AI rationalization” — reviewing where AI is worth the cost — with his team.

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As you see this proliferation of AI use cases across the organization — which has been great — the costs are going up. And at some point you [say], ‘Wait ... What are we getting out of this? Is this the right use of that?’ …

What if it's not efficient? What if it's a process you built using AI that's way more costly than just having a human do it?

— Chris Koehler, CMO of Twilio, to Macro Talk

Larger tech companies have already been rationalizing their AI use because their bills are bigger, according to Koehler.

As for Twilio: “We're not fully there yet, but we will be in the next six months,” he said at the time.

Why Koehler’s perspective matters

Marketers feel particularly at risk of losing their jobs to AI. And Koehler has led teams through several technology shifts over his 25 plus year career, so he’s been on this path before.

Prior to joining Twilio in 2024, he held leadership roles at SunTrust, ETRADE and Adobe, and was most recently CMO of Box.

In our conversation, we discussed:

How Twilio, which serves companies like Rocket Mortgage and Healthfirst, got 95% of its marketing org using AI
Why generalists may become more in demand than specialists
Why “human-only support” could become a brand differentiator for companies

Excerpt of our interview, edited lightly for length and clarity for paid subscribers:

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Strategy Talk: Twilio CMO Chris Koehler on "AI Rationalization" and Generalists vs. Specialists

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