Payments provider Stripe has announced plans to acquire the AI model gateway and marketplace OpenRouter in a bid to expand its AI token optimisation offerings. OpenRouter offers users access to more than 500 AI models, including popular offerings from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google, via a single API key. It also offers centralised billing, allowing firms to track and limit their AI token spending, as well as failover to automatically route prompts to models depending on factors such as budget and latency requirements. Stripe said it has been working with its customers to help them manage their AI token costs and that OpenRouter’s platform will allow it to orchestrate AI tasks across models dynamically to balance cost and performance. Patrick Collison, co-founder and chief executive of Stripe, said: “Tokens are the central currency for companies building with AI, and it’s clear that the real-world economic potential will depend on making good use of scarce compute resources.