State of AI: An Empirical 100T Token Study with OpenRouter

Summary

This empirical study offers a data-driven perspective on how LLMs are actually being used, highlighting several themes that nuance the conventional wisdom about AI deployment:1. A Multi-Model Ecosystem. Our analysis shows that no single model dominates all usage. Instead, we observe a rich multi-model ecosystem with both closed and open models capturing significant shares. For example, even though OpenAI and Anthropic models lead in many programming and knowledge tasks, open source models like DeepSeek and Qwen collectively served a large portion of total tokens (sometimes over 30%). This suggests the future of LLM usage is likely model-agnostic and heterogeneous. For developers, this means maintaining flexibility, integrating multiple models and choosing the best for each job, rather than betting everything on one model's supremacy. For model providers, it underscores that competition can come from unexpected places (e.g., a community model might erode part of your market unless you continuously improve and differentiate).2. Usage Diversity Beyond Productivity. A surprising finding is the sheer volume of roleplay and entertainment-oriented usage. Over half of open source model usage was for roleplay and storytelling. Even on proprietary platforms, a non-trivial fraction of early ChatGPT use was casual and creative before professional use cases grew. This counters an assumption that LLMs are mostly used for writing code, emails, or summaries. In reality, many users engage with these models for companionship or exploration. This has important implications. It highlights a substantial opportunity for consumer-facing applications that merge narrative design, emotional engagement, and interactivity. It suggests new frontiers for personalization—agents that evolve personalities, remember preferences, or sustain long-form interactions. It also redefines model evaluation metrics: success may depend less on factual accuracy and more on consistency, coherence, and the abilit...