The researchers caution that AI adopters are not representative of the wider economy. Companies that adopted AI were already larger, faster growing, more technical and more likely to be venture-backed before they implemented the technology, making simple comparisons with non-adopters misleading. To account for that, the study compares early adopters with similar firms that had not yet adopted AI, rather than firms that never adopted it.
The report also found that AI adoption remains concentrated in knowledge-intensive industries. Information businesses had the highest adoption rates, followed by finance and professional services, while sectors such as hospitality, arts and healthcare lagged significantly behind.
Ramp said their research is among the first to combine observed company AI spending with firm-level workforce records, allowing researchers to measure AI adoption based on actual purchases rather than surveys or estimates of occupational exposure. The company defines adoption as three consecutive months of at least $100 in AI vendor spend, with adoption intensity measured by AI spend per employee during the first three months after implementation.
The authors say the findings should not be interpreted as evidence that AI is causing hiring, but rather as evidence that companies making significant, sustained AI investments are currently growing faster than comparable companies. They argue that the findings suggest that AI’s early economic impact may be less about replacing workers and more about enabling the expansion of companies that are able to integrate the technology effectively.
