AI spending slowdown emerges amidst major model company IPO preparations

Data from Ramp indicates that while the volume of AI token usage has increased, actual spending has flattened across late summer, suggesting price competition is curbing revenue growth for major players like OpenAI and Anthropic. Ramp's lead economist, Ara Kharazian, noted that token spend grew only 1.5% in August and September, a sharp contrast to the 42% growth seen in July. Kharazian observed that the top 1% of firms, the most heavily invested in AI, showed a slight spending dip in August and September, falling below the $10,000 per employee peak seen earlier in the summer. While median firms spend $12–$15 per employee monthly, the top 10% spend between $600 and $1,000. Kharazian attributed the slowdown not to demand issues, but to competitive pricing, citing OpenAI halving API prices for GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, and Anthropic significantly reducing pricing for Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5. This market shift has created a buyer's market, further complicated by Meta and Nvidia offering cheaper or open-source models, and the rise of tools like Jev. While October data showed a modest 8.9% increase in token spend from September 23 to October 23, Kharazian remains skeptical of sustained hypergrowth, noting that while AI coding was a recent driver, personal agents may not provide the necessary economic boost.