Nicolas Brillante, Head of Vertical Strategy at San Francisco-based fintech company Slash, spent $81,267 in AI tokens over one week using a corporate credit card to develop a meme shooter game called Brainrot Shooter. He disclosed this on X on June 24, and Slash subsequently posted an invitation for the public to try it out.
"Brainrot Shooter" Game Design: Minecraft-style Scenes and Meme Character Names
The game features Minecraft-style scenes where players shoot characters named after internet memes, including "skibbidi toilet," "tung tung tung sahur," and other meme materials widely circulated among young people between 2024 and 2025. The game was developed using the Vibe coding workflow, primarily generating code through AI. Brillante did not publicly disclose the specific AI tools used during development.
Slash's X Post and Marketing Expense Justification
Slash explained on X in a half-joking tone that the company encourages employees to try Vibe coding, and after one employee spent $80,000 using the company credit card, the result was this meme shooter game. In the same post, Slash invited the public to try it, stating that if traffic reached a sufficiently high level, the company could classify the expenditure as a marketing expense on the books. Slash noted that it has already received inquiries about advertising partnerships.
Brillante's In-Game Ad Placement Offer for VC-backed Startups
According to Brillante's X post on June 24, he offered VC-backed startups using Slash's services an additional bonus: in addition to providing the best cashback rates, annual yields, and sign-up bonuses, they would also get in-game billboard and menu branding placements.
Companies That Have Announced AI Spending Caps for Employees
Based on publicly available information, the following companies have implemented spending limits on employee AI tools: Walmart has explicitly stipulated that employees' spending on AI tools must be subject to limits, with the core consideration being to prevent resources from being used for personal AI experiments unrelated to business; Uber and Coinbase have set monthly or quarterly spending caps, all predating the Slash incident.
FAQ
What is Vibe coding, and why does it result in such high AI token costs?
Vibe coding is a development method where natural language commands guide AI to generate code, popularized by Andrej Karpathy. Core tools include GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Code. AI token costs are based on usage, and complex projects can consume tokens far faster than non-technical users intuitively expect. Intensive development over a week can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Can "Brainrot Shooter" be played now?
According to Slash and Brillante's public posts on X, the game is available for trial. Slash actively invites the public to experience it. The specific trial link was provided by Brillante in his X post.
What is Slash's purpose in making this incident public?
In Slash's statement on X, it clearly states that the goal is to accumulate enough traffic through a public invitation to try the game, so that the $81,267 AI token fee can be classified as a marketing expense on the books. Slash noted that it has since received inquiries about advertising collaborations, and the incident itself has become an unexpected source of brand exposure.
