Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Aug 24
Microsoft Employees Report $300 Median AI Spend, With Usage Reaching $28,000
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Aug 24

Microsoft Employees Report $300 Median AI Spend, With Usage Reaching $28,000

3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Aug 24

Summary

  • Nearly 600 U.S. Microsoft employees entered pay data in an internal spreadsheet, and about 350 also voluntarily reported AI spending from a new internal tracking tool.
  • Median reported AI usage was about $300 over the last 28 days, but spending varied sharply by team and individual—from $1 to a reported high of $28,000 in Customer and Partner Solutions.
  • Business Insider found no meaningful link in the self-reported data between heavier AI use and bigger raises, bonuses, promotion odds, or bonus ratings.
  • Microsoft said the usage tracker is still in early testing as the company pushes staff to embed AI in daily work while spending hundreds of billions on AI infrastructure.
  • The figures offer only a narrow snapshot: Microsoft had 223,000 employees as of June 30, and the anonymous spreadsheet is voluntary, unofficial, and may contain errors.

Insights

Why did one Microsoft employee rack up $28,000 in monthly AI usage without seeing a single bump in their paycheck?
If Microsoft tracks employee AI costs, will your next promotion secretly depend on your prompt engineering skills?
Could skyrocketing internal AI usage actually be a sign of employee inefficiency rather than the future of work?