{"version":1,"type":"story","url":"https://digestai.news/story/darkbloom-warns-of-falling-token-earnings-as-ai-prices-drop-77-in-five","json":"https://digestai.news/story/darkbloom-warns-of-falling-token-earnings-as-ai-prices-drop-77-in-five.json","markdown":"https://digestai.news/story/darkbloom-warns-of-falling-token-earnings-as-ai-prices-drop-77-in-five.md","slug":"darkbloom-warns-of-falling-token-earnings-as-ai-prices-drop-77-in-five","headline":"Darkbloom warns of falling token earnings as AI prices drop 77% in five months","summary":"Darkbloom, a platform that lets users rent out idle Macs for AI inference, told members to expect lower earnings due to plummeting token prices. According to *The Register*, Anthropic’s price per million tokens fell from $2.65 in May to $0.62 in October—an 77% drop. Kydo, a researcher at Eigen Labs, noted that data center costs have dropped sharply, with NVIDIA cluster output rising ~20x this year, allowing providers to slash prices by 90% while still maintaining 50% profit margins.\n\nDarkbloom estimates an M5 Pro Mac Mini with 64GB of Unified Memory could earn up to $192 monthly in ideal conditions, though the median for top 50 operators is $159.86. After Anthropic’s price cut, earnings plummet to $36.77 per month. Darkbloom is adapting by analyzing model demand and exploring workloads beyond inference, including CI/CD jobs and network performance improvements, to compete with other compute providers.","keyPoints":["Anthropic’s token price dropped 77% from $2.65 in May to $0.62 in October 2026","Darkbloom’s top 50 operators earn a median of $159.86 monthly on an M5 Pro Mac Mini","Darkbloom is shifting focus to higher-demand models and alternative workloads"],"whyItMatters":"The rapid price decline threatens income for Mac owners renting compute power, forcing platforms to adapt or lose revenue. It also signals AI’s cost curve outpacing hardware trends, reshaping how providers compete.","category":{"slug":"hardware","name":"Hardware & Compute","url":"https://digestai.news/category/hardware"},"entities":{"companies":["Darkbloom","Anthropic","Eigen Labs","OpenRouter"],"models":[],"people":["Kydo"]},"firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-31T13:49:09Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-31T13:49:09Z","sourceCount":1,"hasPrimarySource":false,"sources":[{"outlet":"Tom's Hardware","title":"Firm that lets you rent out your idle Mac for AI inference workloads warns of plummeting token costs","url":"https://tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/firm-that-lets-you-rent-out-your-idle-mac-for-ai-inference-workloads-warns-of-plummeting-token-costs-darkbloom-network-sees-earnings-drop-to-usd1-23-a-day-as-anthropic-tokens-fall-77-percent","publishedAt":"2026-10-31T13:49:09Z","type":"press","primary":false,"lead":true}],"sourceNotes":null,"discussions":[],"thread":null,"cite":{"text":"Digest AI, \"Darkbloom warns of falling token earnings as AI prices drop 77% in five months\", 31 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/darkbloom-warns-of-falling-token-earnings-as-ai-prices-drop-77-in-five","publisher":"Digest AI","title":"Darkbloom warns of falling token earnings as AI prices drop 77% in five months","datePublished":"2026-10-31T13:49:09Z","url":"https://digestai.news/story/darkbloom-warns-of-falling-token-earnings-as-ai-prices-drop-77-in-five"},"generatedBy":"Written by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources; the sources are the record.","license":"Headlines, digests and key points are written by Digest AI and may be quoted with a link to the story page. Linked articles belong to their publishers. Terms: https://digestai.news/terms#reuse"}