AI Series Part 1: AI Tools buyers overwhelmingly highest income earners

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Spending on AI Tools, including ChatGPT and Anthropic, is growing triple digits across all income bands, but the highest income earners are growing the fastest according to Earnest credit card data. Sales to subscribers making $190k+ per annum grew between 400% YoY to 565% YoY for most of 2023, eclipsing growth by all other income quintiles. This could be explained by higher income earners turning to the tool to help with jobs in the relatively high paying information economy.

Earners in the $130k-$190k range were the second fastest growing group, surpassing the highest income earners in January 2024. Subscribers making less than $55k per annum were the slowest growing group by sales in 2023, remaining at the bottom in 2024. Spending growth across all cohorts decelerated in recent months but remains in the low triple digits.