OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become the most widely purchased artificial intelligence tool across the U.S. House of Representatives, accounting for roughly 90% of congressional AI spending during the year ending March 31, according to a CNBC analysis of House disbursement records.
The report found that House offices, committees and institutional accounts spent approximately $100,580 on ChatGPT across 798 transactions. Overall AI-related spending totalled at least $113,740 during the reporting period, leavingAnthropic’ss Claude in second place with about $13,160 spread across 37 transactions.
Democratic offices led AI spending.
According to CNBC, Democratic offices accounted for $54,165 in AI purchases, more than three times the $15,782 spent by Republican offices during the same period.
The figures do not include free AI accounts or AI capabilities bundled into broader software subscriptions, meaning actual AI usage across Congress could be higher than the spending records indicate.
How congressional staff are using AI
Congressional staffers are using ChatGPT and other AI tools for a wide range of day-to-day tasks, including drafting memos, summarising and analysing legislation, responding to constituents, preparing hearing materials, reviewing policy research and creating social media posts.
The spending records suggest paid AI tools are becoming part of routine congressional operations as lawmakers and staff increasingly adopt generative AI to support legislative and administrative work.
