OpenAI researchers now burn $600/day in tokens median, top users $7,000+
downingARK · x · 2026-09-09
OpenAI's own data shows coding agents are transforming its research org: the median researcher now spends $600+/day on tokens ($12k/month) vs. not using agents at all at the start of the year; the top 10% burn $7,000+/day ($140k/month). Token consumption grows fastest in Research, researchers running 4+ concurrent agents have more than doubled, lines of code shipped are up 6x vs. the 2025 average, and experiments per researcher have roughly doubled. Agentic task success rates across time horizons keep improving.
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