ChatGPT dominates Congress’s AI spending
Anthropic may have topped OpenAI as the world’s most valuable AI startup a few months ago, but when it comes to power users, Sam Altman’s company still has the edge. ChatGPT accounted for 88% of all known spending on AI tools by the U.S. House of Representatives between April 1, 2025 and March 31 of this year, according to a study of House disbursement records by CNBC. The analysis only looks at…
During April 2025 and March 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives allocated over $113,000 to AI tools, with ChatGPT from OpenAI accounting for an overwhelming 88% of the total. Of the $113,740 spent on named vendors, $100,580 went to ChatGPT, while Anthropic's Claude received a mere $13,160 across just 37 transactions. The significant usage of ChatGPT by Congressional members and staff may provide OpenAI an advantage as the government considers AI regulation and awards contracts to AI companies for various departments.
The study, conducted by CNBC, likely omits the Senate's usage and some House offices that reimburse individual subscriptions, leading to a potential underestimation of the actual AI spending by Congress. OpenAI's heavy presence in House usage can be attributed to ChatGPT's early adoption as the first major AI chatbot and OpenAI's significant political contributions.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his cofounder Greg Brockman have donated millions to various political causes, with a majority supporting Democrats. As the debate over AI regulation intensifies, OpenAI and Anthropic are set to meet with White House officials to discuss a new framework for reviewing frontier AI models before their launch.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
