‘AI-pilled’ firms now spending $7,500 per employee each month on AI, Ramp Index shows

Enterprise spending on artificial intelligence continues to climb, but a new report suggests the most aggressive adopters are still spending far less on AI than on human salaries — at least for now.

According to the Ramp AI Index, which tracks AI adoption across American businesses, the top 1% of firms — what the report labels as “AI-pilled” — are spending an average of $7,500 per employee per month on AI compute and token costs. That figure, while substantial, remains well below the roughly $16,000 monthly cost of an average software engineer.

What the Ramp AI Index reveals

The data, released by expense management and procurement platform Ramp, provides one of the clearest snapshots yet of how corporate America is allocating budgets toward AI. The index segments companies by spending intensity, revealing a wide gap between power users and the broader market.

• Top 1% (“AI-pilled”): $7,500 per employee per month
• Top 10%: $611 per employee per month
• Median firm: $11.38 per employee per month — roughly the cost of a single enterprise AI seat

Among the heaviest spenders, AI costs grew 14.1% per employee in the last month alone, indicating that the upward trend shows no immediate signs of slowing. However, the report notes that many of these firms are actively diversifying their AI spend across multiple frontier models and open-source platforms, suggesting a strategic effort to optimize costs.

Context from industry leaders

The Ramp findings align with recent public comments from tech executives. An Nvidia executive recently remarked that compute costs now exceed employee salaries at his firm. Similarly, the CEO of AI startup Mercor stated that the company now spends more on tokens for internal AI agents than on human headcount.

These anecdotes underscore a growing reality: for some companies, AI infrastructure is becoming one of the largest operational expenses. Yet the Ramp data suggests such cases remain outliers. For the median business, AI spending is still negligible compared to payroll.

Why this matters for businesses and investors

The divergence in AI spending patterns raises important questions about return on investment and competitive advantage. Companies in the top 1% are effectively betting that heavy AI investment will yield productivity gains or revenue growth that justifies the cost. For the median firm, AI remains an experimental or supplementary tool.

Investors and analysts will be watching closely to see whether the spending gap widens or narrows. If AI-pilled firms begin to demonstrate measurable outperformance, it could trigger a wave of increased spending across the broader market. Conversely, if returns fail to materialize, the current spending surge may cool.

The Ramp AI Index also highlights a shift in how companies approach AI procurement. Rather than committing to a single provider, many top spenders are mixing and matching frontier models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, alongside cheaper open-source alternatives. This multi-model strategy suggests that cost optimization — not just capability — is driving enterprise AI decisions.

Conclusion

The Ramp AI Index offers a data-driven counterpoint to the narrative that AI spending has eclipsed human labor costs. While the top 1% of firms are spending heavily, the median business is still spending modestly. The rapid growth rate among power users, however, signals that AI budgets are on an upward trajectory. Whether this trend continues will depend on the tangible returns these investments deliver.

FAQs

Q1: What is the Ramp AI Index?
The Ramp AI Index is a monthly report that tracks AI spending patterns among American businesses, based on transaction data from Ramp’s expense management platform. It segments companies by AI spending intensity to show adoption trends.

Q2: Are companies spending more on AI than on human employees?
Not yet for most firms. The top 1% of AI spenders average $7,500 per employee per month on AI, compared to roughly $16,000 for an average software engineer’s salary. The median firm spends only $11.38 per employee on AI.

Q3: Why are some companies called “AI-pilled”?
The term “AI-pilled” is used by Ramp to describe the top 1% of firms by AI spending intensity. It refers to companies that have fully committed to integrating AI into their operations, often using multiple models and platforms simultaneously.