🔗 When AI costs more than the engineer

Anthropic spends an astonishing 2.3 times its payroll on compute, averaging $515,000 per engineer annually against a typical fully-loaded salary of $224,000. The article dives into the computational expenditures of top AI firms compared to the broader software market. For context, while leading companies allocate $89,000 per engineer on AI tools, the median sits at just $137. Three scenarios are presented for how this spending gap could close by 2029. The Bull case predicts a future where AI costs per engineer soar to levels matching a full SaaS employee's contribution, emphasizing a dramatic shift in the cost structures of AI-native firms. With companies like Anthropic and OpenAI already leading with high revenue-per-employee, the implications for the broader market are substantial. As the intersection of salary and AI expenditure becomes crucial, the article urges readers to consider their strategic position in this evolving landscape.