This year, Microsoft staff aren’t just comparing salaries—they’re tallying up how much AI they’re actually using.
An internal spreadsheet viewed by Themoneytimes shows hundreds of employees voluntarily reporting not only their raises, bonuses, and stock awards, but also the dollar value of the AI tools they used over the past month. Microsoft has rolled out an internal tool that lets employees track both their AI usage and associated spending.
The numbers offer a rare look at how AI is being deployed inside Microsoft as the tech giant races against rivals like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic to build AI products.
As the company pours hundreds of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure and pushes employees to weave AI into their daily workflows, the spreadsheet reveals dramatic variation in usage across teams—from just a few dollars a month to tens of thousands. It also suggests that, at least for now, heavier AI use isn’t translating into bigger raises, bonuses, or promotions.
Microsoft isn’t alone in trying to understand how its workforce uses AI. Across Big Tech, firms are increasingly tracking AI consumption as they spend billions on models and infrastructure.
This year’s spreadsheet introduced a new column asking employees to self‑report their “AI $ Usage Per Month” using the internal tracking tool, which shows the dollar amount of their AI usage over the last 28 days. A Microsoft spokesperson said the AI usage tracking tool is still in early testing.
When Themoneytimes analyzed the data, the document contained nearly 600 entries from U.S. employees, detailing how much they say they received this year in base pay, raises, cash bonuses, and stock awards. About 350 of those entries included reported AI usage at the time.
Among the reported figures, the median AI usage amount was roughly $300 over 28 days. The highest reported amount was $28,000 from an employee in the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions organization.
Themoneytimes’ analysis excluded levels and teams with few entries. The data is self‑reported and may contain errors.
Self‑reported AI usage among Microsoft employees
OrgNo. of entriesMedian AI usage, last 28 daysRangeAzure33$241$1 to $7,500Cloud + AI107$325$1 to $15,000CoreAI14$975$40 to $16,000Experiences and Devices69$250$1 to $3,391Microsoft AI15$490$45 to $10,000Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions25$134$1 to $28,000Security12$526$58 to $10,000
Microsoft employees typically share this information voluntarily and anonymously to promote pay transparency, but that means the data isn’t official or comprehensive. With 223,000 employees as of June 30, a spreadsheet containing only about 350 AI usage figures provides a very narrow snapshot.
Themoneytimes found no meaningful correlation in the spreadsheet between reported AI usage and rewards. Higher AI usage did not appear to be linked to higher bonus ratings, merit increases, or a greater chance of promotion.
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