OpenAI researchers' coding-agent usage is doubling about monthly, Epoch AI reports
Original titleCoding-agent use at OpenAI is doubling roughly every month
AISummary
OpenAI researchers' daily coding-agent usage, valued at API prices, rose from under $1 in January 2026 to $601 for the median researcher by mid-August. The 90th-percentile researcher reached over $7,000 per day, and both groups show doubling times of roughly one month. Epoch notes these are API-list values, not OpenAI's internal costs.
AIWhy it matters
The figures show internal coding-agent usage growing fast enough to matter for research cost, though they measure API-list value rather than OpenAI's actual spending.
Source: Epoch AI · epoch.aiPublished · added here