Anthropic leads enterprise AI adoption

Anthropic moved ahead of OpenAI in a closely watched measure of paid business AI adoption this week, as consulting giant PwC expanded its rollout of Claude tools inside its own operations and client work. Ramp said on May 13 that 34.4% of businesses in its AI index were paying for Anthropic products in April, compared with 32.3% for OpenAI. (ramp.com) A day later, PwC said it would train and certify 30,000 U.S. professionals on Claude and widen access beyond that initial group. The announcements add detail to where companies are spending on generative AI: code assistance, workflow redesign and software tied to core systems rather than stand-alone chatbots. (siliconangle.com) ### Which data point put Anthropic ahead? (siliconangle.com) Ramp said on May 13 that Anthropic passed OpenAI in paid business adoption for the first time in the firm’s monthly AI Index. Anthropic’s adoption rate rose to 34.4% of businesses in April, while OpenAI’s fell to 32.3%, according to Ramp economist Ara Kharazian. Ramp said the index is based on corporate card and bill-pay data from more than 50,000 U.S. businesses using its platform. The company has described the measure as a view of paid adoption, not total usage, because free tools and internal deployments may not appear in transaction data. (ramp.com) ### Why are companies buying Claude now? Claude Code has been a key driver of Anthropic’s enterprise demand, according to multiple reports on the Ramp data. TechCrunch reported that Kharazian said Anthropic was already leading among higher-adoption sectors including finance, technology and professional services. (ramp.com) PwC’s own description of its work with Anthropic points in the same direction. A February 24 press release said clients were moving “beyond pilots and isolated copilots” and embedding Claude, Claude Code and related tools inside regulated environments where governance, auditability and risk controls matter. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Scott White, Anthropic’s head of product for enterprise, said enterprises were moving “into real workflows.” ### What exactly is PwC rolling out? PwC said on May 14 that it is rolling out Claude Code and Claude Cowork across its workforce and will train 30,000 U.S. professionals on Anthropic’s models. (techcrunch.com) The firm said the program will later extend toward its global workforce of more than 364,000 people across 136 countries. The expanded alliance includes a joint Center of Excellence and a Claude-native finance business group inside PwC’s Office of the CFO practice. PwC said Claude is already running inside ChatPwC, the firm’s internal AI assistant, and is being used in active incubation pods covering finance, supply chain and dealmaking. (pwc.com) ### Where is the software being used in production? PwC said current production deployments include insurance underwriting, legacy system modernization, human resources systems and cybersecurity. The firm said one insurance workflow was reduced from 10 weeks to 10 days, a stalled HR transformation produced a working prototype in one week and a full application in under two months, and some client engagements showed delivery improvements of up to 70%. (siliconangle.com) Advocate Health is among the named participants preparing broader use. PwC said the health system is building toward full-scale deployment of Claude across its 167,000-person workforce, and Advocate Health Chief Digital and AI Officer Andy Crowder said the effort was aimed at giving staff more capacity in patient care. (siliconangle.com) ### What does this say about enterprise AI spending? PwC and Anthropic have framed the work around operational systems rather than consumer-style AI interfaces. PwC said the alliance focuses on accelerated software development, AI agents in transaction work, and AI-native models for finance, supply chain and human resources. (siliconangle.com) Anthropic and PwC also tied the push to legacy technology costs. PwC said the two firms were responding to more than $2 trillion in technical debt inside enterprise operations, and its February statement said the goal was to place AI agents inside systems of record with governance and human oversight. (siliconangle.com) ### What happens next? The next visible milestones are inside PwC’s rollout. PwC said the training and certification of 30,000 U.S. professionals is anchored in the joint Center of Excellence, while Claude access is set to expand more broadly across the firm’s global network. (finance.yahoo.com) Ramp’s next monthly AI Index will show whether Anthropic keeps the lead it took in April spending data. PwC, meanwhile, said Claude is already active in finance, supply chain and dealmaking, with further deployment planned in regulated industries including healthcare, life sciences and financial services. (ramp.com) (siliconangle.com)