Worldwide end-user spending on generative AI models is projected to total $14.2 billion in 2025, according to Gartner, Inc.

End-user spending on specialised GenAI models, which include domain-specific language models (DSLMs), is estimated to total $1.1 billion in 2025.

Specialised GenAI models are trained or fine-tuned on industry or business process-specific data. The way DSLMs are developed and deployed results in an impact that exceeds the direct spending they generate.

Gartner predicts that by 2027, more than half of the GenAI models used by enterprises will be domain-specific – that is, specific to an industry or business function – up from 1% in 2024.

“Foundation GenAI models (including LLMs) are trained on vast amounts of data and used for many different tasks. They are the first models supporting GenAI and will continue to represent the largest area of spending by organisations in the coming years,” said Arunasree Cheparthi, Senior Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.

“However, organisations are also turning to more domain-specific or vertical GenAI models because they offer improved performance, cost, reliability and relevance in targeted enterprise use cases over foundation models.”

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According to Gartner, end-user spending on genAI models in 2024 totalled just $5.719 billion, with just $302 million of this coming from specialised genAI models.

The $14.2 billion they expect to be spent by the end of this year represents a 148.3% growth, with a 297% growth in specialised genAI model spending, and 141% growth in foundation genAI model spend.

The analyst firm recently predicted that overall spending on genAI globally would amount to $644 bn in 2025, which would include spending on servers, services, and devices.