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September 9, 2025

OpenAI growth rebounds following GPT-5 launch

Ara Kharazian
Economist, Ramp

New Ramp data shows business AI adoption grew 1.2% in August, led by an increase in businesses paying for subscriptions and OpenAI releasing a new LLM model.

The Ramp AI Index shows business AI adoption rose to 44.5% in August 2025, up from 43.3%. OpenAI, which launched its newest model GPT-5 in August, led AI companies in growth, with a 1.5% increase in businesses subscribed to OpenAI models and tools. Taking a closer look at different sectors, finance and manufacturing were the fastest-growing adopters of new AI spend, with adoption growing 3% and 2%, respectively. Adoption among technology firms remained flat at 72%.

OpenAI’s GPT-5 release drove a sharp rebound for the company’s tools, with adoption growth outpacing main rival Anthropic for the first time since May. Growth in the finance and manufacturing verticals underscores how GPT-5’s improved reasoning and efficiency are expanding AI’s reach into industries that have historically been slower to adopt new technology.

Highlights

  • The 1.2% August increase is slightly slower than a 2% increase in July but continues the positive trend in AI adoption following a brief slowdown in May and June.
  • The U.S. government measure of business AI adoption, from the U.S. Census Business Trends and Outlook Survey, increased to 9% from 8.4%, turning positive but still below it’s all-time-high of 9.3% in May and June 2025.
  • We believe the government estimate, which relies on survey data, is underreporting actual AI adoption by U.S. businesses. Our methodology explains why in detail.
  • xAI held flat despite doubling its base of businesses in July. It was also one of our fastest-growing vendors that month.
  • Anthropic grew business AI adoption 1% in August, a slight slowdown from its 1.5% growth in July.
  • OpenAI remains the leader in business AI adoption, at 35%, up 1.5% from July.

For a deeper look at broader trends in AI adoption, check out our Q2 spending report.

→ Download the Summer 2025 Ramp Business Spending Report

For more analysis of Ramp spend data, follow me on X and LinkedIn, and subscribe to my newsletter. All data is available for download from Ramp AI Index.

Don't miss key shifts in business spend from Ramp Economics Lab.
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Ara Kharazian•Economist, Ramp
Ara Kharazian is an economist at Ramp. His writing and analysis of AI, business spend, and the economy has been covered in the New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, NPR's Planet Money, Bloomberg, the Guardian, Vox, Axios, and more. Ara previously led economic research at Square and developed Square Payroll Index, which became one of the key public datasets used to track restaurant worker wages, tips, and overtime in the United States. He was previously an economic consultant at Cornerstone Research.
He writes the weekly newsletter Econ Lab on Substack.
Ramp is dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes make informed decisions. We adhere to strict editorial guidelines to ensure that our content meets and maintains our high standards.

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