2026 AI Spending Survey Template

An AI spending survey is a structured questionnaire that collects anonymous data on how individuals and organizations allocate budget toward artificial intelligence tools, platforms, and services. Results are typically aggregated into benchmark reports that help respondents compare their investment levels against peers in similar roles, company sizes, or industries.

The ideal trigger is the start of a new budget planning cycle, typically Q4 or Q1, when finance and IT leaders are evaluating prior-year ROI and projecting forward spend. Running the survey immediately after a major AI product release or a significant market event also captures timely sentiment shifts before organizational priorities reset.

Two separate fields address different spending layers: one radio question covers personal monthly subscriptions ranging from free tools up to $150 or more, while a second captures the formal organizational annual AI budget from no structured budget through $500,000 or more. This dual-layer approach reveals misalignment between grassroots adoption spend and top-down budget allocation.

After submitting the survey, respondents who provide their email receive an automatically generated report comparing their personal and organizational AI spend against aggregated benchmark data. The report segments results by role, company size, and industry, so recipients see relevant peer comparisons rather than a generic industry average.

The AI tool categories checkbox field includes major model providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Google, alongside developer-focused coding tools and custom AI development investments. This breakdown supports enterprise AI budget analysis by showing which vendor ecosystems absorb the largest share of spend and where organizations are building proprietary capability rather than licensing third-party solutions.