Businesses are using more AI and paying less for it, Ramp AI Index shows

US companies are spending less on AI even as usage rises, according to the latest Ramp AI Index from Ramp economist Ara Kharazian. He attributes the decline almost entirely to competition between OpenAI and Anthropic, along with price cuts on top models and cheaper, more efficient standard and lite models.

Usage has climbed about 50 percent since spending peaked in July and reached a record high at the end of September, Kharazian said. In the last week of September covered by the data, Anthropic accounted for 51 percent of token spending and OpenAI 44.5 percent.

Open-source models still represent less than five percent of business spending, according to Kharazian. The Ramp AI Index tracks transaction data from more than 70,000 US companies, with its token data drawn from a subsample. Kharazian said the analysis only covers API spending and skews toward large AI customers. He noted that this is not the first decline, but it has lasted unusually long.