Ramp economist Ara Kharazian reported that US businesses are using more AI while paying less for it, based on the latest Ramp AI Index. Spending on AI services dropped significantly, with usage climbing about 50 percent since spending peaked in July and hitting a record high at the end of September.
The decline in AI spending is largely attributed to competition between OpenAI and Anthropic, with price cuts on top models and the availability of cheaper, more efficient standard and lite models. Kharazian noted that Open-source models still make up less than five percent of business spending, highlighting the continued dominance of proprietary AI services.
In the last week of September covered by the data, Anthropic captured 51 percent of token spending, while OpenAI accounted for 44.5 percent. The Ramp AI Index tracks transaction data from more than 70,000 US companies, and its token data comes from a subsample of that group.
"The drop comes almost entirely from competition between OpenAI and Anthropic," said Ara Kharazian, Ramp economist. Kharazian added that the analysis only covers API spending and skews toward large AI customers, indicating potential gaps in the data.
This decline is not the first, but it has lasted unusually long, with spending peaking in July. Kharazian did not say how long the trend will continue, and the source raises questions about the sustainability of the current spending patterns.
Source: thedecoder
