Ramp reported a decline in AI spending per employee at the top 1% of AI-using firms, falling nearly 10% to $7,205 in August. This marks another slowdown in AI adoption after a period of rapid growth.
The company's data suggests that the pace of AI spending has slowed, with only 56% of Ramp customers paying for AI products in August, a rise of just 0.4% from the previous month. This trend has been observed before, with similar declines in AI adoption between August and October last year.
The data highlights a potential concern for AI infrastructure investment, as the rapid buildout of AI tools relies on sustained revenue growth. However, Ramp's figures may overstate overall adoption due to its tech-focused clientele, which is not representative of the broader market.
"We are showing that competition between OpenAI and Anthropic is making AI more accessible, and also driving the price down for companies — and not just driving the price down, but driving spend down at the top 1% of companies that previously the market was expecting to drive much of the growth going forward," said Ara Kharazian, Ramp economist.
The slowdown in AI spend could signal a shift in market dynamics, with many companies opting for older, cheaper models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT 5.6-Terra and Anthropic’s Sonnet instead of newer, more expensive models. This trend may indicate a need for labs to find ways to recoup training costs through increased adoption.
Ramp did not specify whether the slowdown is due to seasonal factors, such as the summer vacation period, or a broader trend in AI adoption. The company also noted that the data may not fully reflect the broader market, as it is based on a sample of tech-focused businesses.
Source: techcrunch
