{"slug": "ai-pilled-firms-spend-7500-per-employee-each-month-on-ai", "title": "‘AI-pilled’ firms spend $7,500 per employee each month on AI", "summary": "The top 1% of American businesses, classified as \"AI-pilled,\" spend $7,500 per employee each month on artificial intelligence, according to new data from the Ramp AI Index. That figure remains less than half the average monthly salary of a software engineer, which stands at roughly $16,000. AI spending among these power users grew 14.1% per employee last month, though the median firm spends only $11.38 per employee.", "body_md": "An Nvidia executive recently [said](https://fortune.com/2026/04/28/nvidia-executive-cost-of-ai-is-greater-than-cost-of-employees/) that the cost of compute is now greater than the salaries of his employees. Last week, [Mercor’s CEO said](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-startup-mercor-spends-more-on-tokens-than-payroll-2026-6) the startup is spending more on tokens for internal agents than on employee headcount.\n\nAs enterprises [blow through their token budgets,](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/05/the-token-bill-comes-due-inside-the-industry-scramble-to-manage-ais-runaway-costs/) a big question is: Are companies actually spending more on AI than on humans?\n\nNot quite yet, according to [fresh research](https://econlab.substack.com/p/how-much-does-it-cost-to-be-ai-pilled) from the Ramp AI Index, which measures the adoption rate of AI among American businesses. The top 1% of firms — which Ramp describes as “AI-pilled” — are spending $7,500 per employee per month. Whether you think that’s a lot or a little depends on your perspective, but it’s certainly not more than the roughly $16,000 per month the average software engineer makes.\n\nAnd those are just the power users. The top 10% spend about $611 monthly per employee, and the median only spend about $11.38, or about the cost of a seat on an enterprise plan.\n\nThat said, despite pressures, AI spending is still rising. Among the AI-pilled firms, spend grew 14.1% per employee last month. It’s not yet clear if that trend will continue. The top 1% of firms tend to mix and match, opting to bounce between multiple frontier models and platforms that give them access to cheaper open source models.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-pilled-firms-spend-7500-per-employee-each-month-on-ai", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/10/ai-pilled-firms-spend-7500-per-employee-each-month-on-ai/", "published_at": "2026-06-10 17:07:35+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-11 18:02:44.280647+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Nvidia", "Mercor", "Ramp AI Index", "Fortune", "Business Insider", "TechCrunch"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-pilled-firms-spend-7500-per-employee-each-month-on-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-pilled-firms-spend-7500-per-employee-each-month-on-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-pilled-firms-spend-7500-per-employee-each-month-on-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-pilled-firms-spend-7500-per-employee-each-month-on-ai.jsonld"}}