IA

Companies cut AI spending and favor more affordable models

Data from The Decoder shows that top AI-spending companies reduced their per-employee investment by nearly 10% during August.

Editado por Yan Barbosa

Companies cut AI spending and favor more affordable models

The top companies investing in artificial intelligence reduced their spending per employee by 9.7% during the month of August, according to data from Ramp's AI Index, cited by The Decoder. The survey indicates that, although technology adoption continues to grow, the pace has slowed down and the focus has shifted toward more financially accessible alternatives.

Why is investment per employee falling?

The median cost per employee in the group of companies that spend the most on AI stood at $7,205 in August. According to The Decoder, this decline is partially seasonal, as the August vacation period reduces operational engineering activity. However, there is a clear structural shift: token prices have fallen by 41% since March, and companies are actively migrating to standard models, such as GPT-5.6 Terra and the Claude Sonnet series, in favor of more expensive frontier models.

The consumption volume of models like Opus, Fable, and Sol fell from 53% at the beginning of August to 45% in September. According to The Decoder's analysis, companies have adopted a strategy of imposing internal policies that restrict the use of frontier models, given that standard versions already satisfy most operational needs at a significantly lower cost.

The role of open-weight models in the market

Despite the demand for cheaper options, the market does not show a significant migration to open-source alternatives or those originating from China. Only 3.6% of all companies monitored by the platform use open-weight models. The Decoder highlights that actual adoption may be even lower, as the data is collected through routing platforms that also offer access to closed models.

The scenario for model providers is complex. Growth in usage volume may not be enough to compensate for the sharp drop in token prices. It remains to be seen how the market will react when Anthropic moves forward with its initial public offering, expected in October, a move that could bring greater clarity regarding the financial sustainability of this business model.