Where Enterprise AI Budgets Are Headed in 2026

Anthropic Claude is gaining, OpenAI ChatGPT is cooling, and the budget is shifting. See the direction of travel.

AI spending is accelerating, but the picture underneath is shifting fast. This summary covers the directional findings from the latest survey: where budgets are growing, how dollars are moving between categories, and how the leading vendors compare on adoption, growth, and value. It is built for the people who need the read before it shows up in earnings calls.

 

What the Summary Covers

The May 2026 AI Product Series tracks product-level AI adoption, spending, and vendor performance across seat-based, consumption-based, and embedded products. The free summary highlights this quarter's directional findings, including:
  • How enterprise AI budgets are trending over the next 12 months and the next 2 to 3 years
  •  The structural shift in where AI dollars are going across spending categories
  • How Anthropic Claude and OpenAI ChatGPT compare on enterprise growth and perceived value
  • Where AI maturity and measurable ROI stand across the enterprise
 

What You Get, and What's Reserved

The summary is free and gives you this quarter's direction of travel across enterprise AI spending and vendor momentum.

The full AI Product Series, including vendor-level rankings, value-for-cost scores, license-growth drill downs, and period-over-period comparisons, is available to ETR clients.

Highlights From the Survey

  • 91% of enterprises plan to increase AI spending over the next 12 months. Budgets keep expanding, with more organizations now making larger annual commitments.

  • A new category leads enterprise AI spend. Consumption-based SaaS has overtaken cloud infrastructure, a structural shift with direct read-through to vendors.

  • 1 seat-based AI vendor now leads on both growth and value. Not the obvious one. A former front-runner cooled this survey.

Anthropic Claude vs OpenAI ChatGPT

Two of the most widely adopted AI products in the enterprise are moving in different directions. One is gaining ground on forward growth and perceived value. The other remains broadly adopted but is showing the first signs of cooling.

The summary lays out which is which and what is driving the shift. The vendor-level scores behind it are in the full report.

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