AI Working More Than Humans? Anthropic's Astonishing Experiment

Imagine this: How would you feel if the cost of running an artificial intelligence (AI) system at your workplace exceeded the amount paid in salaries to its employees? You might worry, “Does this mean humans are no longer needed?” or you might be impressed, “The company is creating truly intelligent AI!”

Recently, this very surprising phenomenon has occurred at Anthropic, a leader in the generative AI field. It is more than just an interesting news item—it is a definitive signal of how companies are transforming in the AI era.

Why is this important?

This fact is significant because the center of gravity in business operations is shifting. Until now, the biggest cost for any company has unequivocally been ‘people’ (labor costs). However, AI companies like Anthropic are now pouring as many, if not more, resources into utilizing AI as they do into their human workforce. Reference 2 This signifies that AI has moved beyond a simple auxiliary tool and become a core engine performing the daily tasks of a business.

In simple terms

Anthropic calculated how much it uses its own AI, Claude, internally, using the price external customers pay (retail price) as a benchmark. In April 2026, this value surpassed the total monthly salaries of Anthropic’s employees (excluding stock options). Reference 1, Reference 16

To put it simply: It’s as if the electricity bill for running a cutting-edge knowledge system in a school library has become more expensive than the cost of notebooks used by the entire student body to study. The system has become so intelligent that running the system has become the primary method of study, rather than students reading books themselves. In fact, this internal usage exploded 250-fold between April and September alone. Reference 13

Of course, there is a caveat. Some point out that this figure is closer to a ‘value’ converted based on external retail prices rather than the actual ‘cash cost’ spent by Anthropic. Reference 12 Nevertheless, the fact remains that the company is incessantly feeding an enormous amount of data to its AI and entrusting it with decision-making.

What is Anthropic’s current situation?

Anthropic’s growth is staggering. While the number of employees has nearly tripled in a year, revenue has grown a whopping 13-fold. Reference 4 As a result, revenue per employee has surged from $1.4 million to $6.6 million. Reference 4 This is evidence that employees, equipped with the powerful weapon of AI, are processing far more work much more efficiently than before.

What will happen in the future?

Moving forward, the proportion of research and tasks performed by AI autonomously will increase, going beyond simple collaboration between humans and AI. Anthropic is already envisioning a future where its AI agents replace human roles in specialized fields such as drug discovery. Reference 7

We are now entering an era where a company’s value will be determined not by the number of employees it has, but by how well it utilizes AI. How much ‘AI thinking’ is currently integrated into the work at your company?

References

1. Anthropic’s Internal AI Usage Now Exceeds Employee Compensation
2. Anthropic’s internal AI use, at retail prices, now exceeds its…
3. Anthropic makes more per employee than every Magnificent Seven company but Nvidia
4. The Prospectus Arrives: My (but not the) Anthropic IPO Valuation!
5. Anthropic’s Internal Claude Usage at Retail Rates Now Exceeds Its Employee
6. Anthropic Internal Claude Use Tops Pay: 250x Growth …
7. Anthropic Values Internal Claude Use Above Employee Pay
8. Anthropic values its own AI above its payroll — and the …