Stripe has launched a preview of a new billing feature designed to help AI startups manage and profit from the costs associated with using AI models. This innovative tool allows companies to automatically apply a markup percentage, such as 30%, on top of the raw token usage costs charged by model providers like OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Anthropic. The feature tracks API prices, records customer token consumption, and applies the desired profit margin, addressing a critical challenge for AI businesses, particularly agentic startups, where increased customer usage directly translates to higher operational expenses. Stripe's offering also includes an AI gateway for accessing multiple models, and it integrates with existing third-party gateways.