OpenAI Narrows Gap with Anthropic as Business AI Spending Climbs
Synopsis
OpenAI is gaining momentum among U.S. business users, narrowing the gap with Anthropic as enterprise AI adoption continues to rise.
OpenAI is regaining momentum among business customers in the U.S., according to new data from corporate expense management platform Ramp. It suggests that the competition between the ChatGPT maker and Anthropic remains far from settled.
While Anthropic continues to lead overall business market share on Ramp's platform, OpenAI has started growing at a faster pace during the current quarter.
The findings offer one of the few public indicators of enterprise AI adoption ahead of the companies' expected IPOs.
With both firms still privately held, spending trends from platforms such as Ramp provide investors with valuable insights into customer demand and competitive positioning.
OpenAI Accelerates Despite Anthropic's Lead
Ramp's analysis, based on more than 70,000 U.S. businesses using its corporate card and bill payment products, shows Anthropic accounted for nearly 44% of AI-related business spending in July, compared with almost 40% for OpenAI. Anthropic overtook OpenAI in May and has retained its lead since.
However, Ramp economist Ara Kharazian said OpenAI is currently expanding faster among these customers in the third quarter. He attributed the trend partly to the strong reception of OpenAI's latest GPT-5.6 Sol model which has gained popularity among developers.
The data does not include large enterprises that rely on other expense management providers which means it reflects only a segment of the enterprise AI market rather than the industry as a whole.
Enterprise AI Market Continues to Expand
Ramp's figures also suggest overall business spending on AI tools continues to rise, benefiting both companies despite their intense rivalry. More than half of Ramp's customers now pay for AI services with adoption increasing from over 50% in March to nearly 56% in July.
Kharazian also noted that Anthropic's premium Fable model has seen slower adoption, citing its higher pricing and regulatory requirements requiring customer data to be retained for 30 days. While the model targets specialised enterprise use cases rather than general chatbot tasks, the policy drew criticism from some users.
The latest figures underline how quickly enterprise AI preferences can shift as companies launch new models. Rather than remaining loyal to a single provider, businesses appear willing to switch platforms based on performance, pricing and product capabilities, making the race for enterprise AI customers increasingly competitive.
Source: Tech Crunch
Vishal is an experienced Editor at Inspirepreneur Magazine with key interests in artificial intelligence, eCommerce, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and startup sector. Prior to joining Inspirepreneur, he was a Content Writer cum Correspondent at Siliconindia Magazine, where he worked on Company Profiles, Cover Stories, Executive Profiles, Feature Articles and Thought Leadership content.
