The AI Value Gap : Where Does the $7,000 Per Seat Go?

A new study from OpenAI shows AI saves the average white-collar worker 54 minutes per day. Where does all that value go?

BLS data shows median weekly earnings for full-time workers hit $1,165 in Q3 2024, or $60,580 annually. Across 2,080 working hours, hourly compensation equals $29.13. One hour saved per day equals 250 hours per year, or $7,282 in recovered productivity per seat.

Current AI pricing captures between 3% & 5% of this value :

Typically, vendors capture 10-15% of value, leaving employers & employees with 85-90% value capture.

This gap suggests significant pricing power remains untapped since the total value capture for these tools is only 5%. Microsoft announced price increases last week, with Microsoft 365 E3 rising from $36 to $39 per user monthly starting July 2026 - an 8.3% increase, closer to a COLA adjustment than a value-based price increase.

Bundling complicates the picture.

Microsoft 365 Copilot & Google Workspace AI include access to email, spreadsheets, & presentation software. ChatGPT Plus does not. Will enterprises pay for standalone AI applications on top of their existing Copilot or Workspace subscriptions? Must standalone AI tools also bundle these features?

Unbundling is already happening in some categories too :

Gamma, a $2.1B unicorn building AI presentation software, charges $480 per seat annually. 33% more than Microsoft 365 Copilot, which already includes PowerPoint with AI features.

Gamma has 600,000+ paying subscribers, suggesting a market exists for best-in-class vertical tools even when bundled alternatives exist.

In the SaaS ecosystem, bundling & unbundling were both motifs. AI doesn’t seem any different, aside from the significant productivity gains that create room for both strategies to win.

Data sources : OpenAI productivity study (Dec 2025), Microsoft/Google public pricing, Bureau of Labor Statistics Q3 2024 median weekly earnings