OpenAI Coding Agent Use Doubles Monthly to $601 a Day

Epoch AI analysis of OpenAI figures found that monthly spending on internal coding agents rose from under $1 per day in January to $601 per day by mid-August 2026, with usage doubling each month and annualized costs reaching roughly $2M per person. The analysis noted that list prices do not reflect actual internal costs and warned that continued growth could lead to about $185M per median researcher within a year, a pace it described as unsustainable.