Ramp data shows top AI-using firms spend $7,500 per employee monthly

In short: A small group of US companies is spending thousands of dollars per employee each month on AI tools, but most companies spend very little.

What's going on

New data from the Ramp AI Index, which tracks how American businesses adopt AI, shows a wide gap in what companies pay for AI.

Ramp says the top 1% of firms, described as the most AI-committed, spend about $7,500 per employee per month on AI. That figure is meant to include things like paying for AI services and the computer power needed to run them.

For comparison, the article notes that the average software engineer costs roughly $16,000 per month. In other words, even the biggest AI spenders are not generally paying more for AI than for a person, at least not yet.

Spending drops quickly outside that top group. The top 10% of firms spend about $611 per employee each month. The median company, meaning the one in the middle of the pack, spends about $11.38 per employee each month, about the price of a single business software seat.

The report also points to fast growth among the heaviest users. Among the top 1% of firms, spending per employee rose 14.1% in the last month. These firms often switch between several leading AI models and providers, a bit like shopping across multiple grocery stores to find lower prices.

What to watch

Companies have been warning that AI costs can add up quickly, especially when usage rises. The key question is whether today’s fastest-growing AI budgets keep climbing, or whether more firms move to cheaper options, including open-source models (software you can use and modify, like a recipe anyone can copy).

Source: TechCrunch AI