Claude Code burns ~90 extra tokens per turn on pronoun instructions, user claims
umeshonai · x · 2026-11-05
A user discovered Claude Code's system prompt includes pronoun guidance: default to they/them when unstated, never infer pronouns from names, applying to all user-visible text including visible thinking. The user claims this costs about 90 extra tokens every turn — over a million tokens on his bill last month.
The post went viral, with AI safety researcher David Krueger among those amplifying it with the quip "AI was a mistake," fueling community debate over alignment instructions embedded in system prompts and who pays for them.
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