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Technology

Top 1% of Companies Spend Rs 7 Lakh Per Employee on AI: Report

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 17 Aug 2026 17 Aug 2026

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a regular part of the workplace, but for companies, wider AI adoption is also bringing a much bigger bill. A new report suggests that businesses using AI most aggressively are spending significantly more on these tools, with the top 1 per cent now paying around Rs 7 lakh per employee.

According to Ramp’s AI Index, the top 1 percent of US companies spent a median $7,400, or roughly Rs 7 lakh, per employee on AI last month. The increase has been particularly sharp in recent months. In January, the same group was spending $2,590, equivalent to around Rs 2.47 lakh, per employee. Put simply, the more employees use AI and the more complex tasks they assign to these systems, the higher the potential bill.

However, not every company is allowing AI usage to grow unchecked. Some major employers have reportedly introduced limits on how many tokens employees can use. Uber, Amazon and Walmart are among companies that have capped token usage in an attempt to control costs.

AI spending gap widens

The Ramp report shows a striking difference between companies that are heavily investing in AI and those taking a more cautious approach.

While the top 1 percent spent $7,400 per employee, the top 10 per cent spent a median $650, or approximately Rs 62,000, per employee. Across all companies covered by the report, median AI spending was only $11.95, around Rs 1,140, per employee.

This suggests that the divide between businesses making AI a major part of their operations and those using it selectively is becoming increasingly visible.

The rising cost of AI has also become a talking point among technology leaders. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously said, “It’s kind of a meme now, ‘My company spent my entire 2026 budget in Q1, can you make this more efficient?’”

Nvidia executive Bryan Catanzaro highlighted the scale of computing expenses in April, saying, “For my team, the cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees.”

Anthropic leads business AI adoption

The report also provides a snapshot of which AI providers are being used by businesses in the US. Anthropic leads with a 43.5 per cent share of AI-using businesses, while OpenAI follows at 39.7 per cent. Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI accounts for around 4 percent.

At the same time, model-serving platforms offering access to open-source and Chinese AI models are gaining ground. Their share increased to 6.1 per cent of AI-using businesses in July.

Ramp says the growth of these alternatives has not yet meaningfully reduced spending on OpenAI and Anthropic. However, the trend indicates that companies with heavier AI workloads are increasingly combining premium AI services with cheaper open-source models.

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