OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ‘accepts’ clients telling him that ‘My company spent my entire 2026 budget in Q1’; says: All of a sudden there is …

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has admitted that businesses are increasingly concerned about the cost of using artificial intelligence (AI). The chief executive of the AI company has revealed that some customers are telling OpenAI that they have already exhausted their annual AI budgets within the first few months of the year. Speaking at the Intelligence at Work event, Altman said concerns about AI spending have emerged rapidly among OpenAI’s customers, marking a shift from earlier conversations that focused primarily on expanding usage.

According to a report by Tom’s Hardware, Altman said, “People are really saying, you know, it’s kind of a meme now, but ‘My company spent my entire 2026 budget in Q1.