Unused seats show how much of your AI bill goes on seats nobody reports using.
What counts as unusedLink to this section
A seat is unused when:
- A person is assigned to a tool in The GAiGE (so they count towards its seats), and
- They didn't once answer yes to "Did you use ChatGPT today?" in the AI Pulse during the period.
In other words: they had access, they were asked, and they never reported using it. What those seats cost (unused seats × the amount per seat) is the figure.
It applies to tools billed per seat. A flat fee or a usage bill doesn't shrink when a seat goes unused, so for those tools the card says so rather than suggesting a saving.
Where you'll see itLink to this section
- Reports: the Unused seats card, with the dollar figure and the number of unused seats
- Reports, the tool table: an Unused column for each tool
- Insights (Pro): called out when one tool has a large amount going on unused seats
What to do about itLink to this section
Three reasonable responses, from lightest to firmest:
1 · ReassignLink to this section
Take the seat from someone who doesn't use the tool and give it to someone waiting for one. Common when a tool is in demand and idle seats are blocking access.
2 · Help people learn itLink to this section
If the people with unused seats should be getting value from the tool, the issue is often that they don't yet know how. The AI Pulse asks people who didn't use a tool why. "I forgot it was available" points to AI learning, and the AI Capability Check's "I haven't had time to learn it" and "I'm not sure what it can do" say it directly.
3 · CutLink to this section
Reduce your seat count with the vendor. If the same 12 seats have gone unused for three months running, you don't need them. The unused seats figure is what you'd save by cutting them.
A worked exampleLink to this section
Imagine the Unused seats card in Reports says:
Unused seats: A$1,649 a month, 52 unused seats across 6 tools
That's about A$20,000 a year on seats with no reported use. Acting on half of it, say cutting 25 seats, would save over A$10,000 a year.
Look at the tool table in Reports to see which tools are responsible. Often one or two tools make up most of the figure. Those are your targets.
A note on response ratesLink to this section
If your response rate is low overall (say under 30%), the figure overstates the waste: some people may be using the tool without answering pulses. In that case, treat the unused seats figure as an upper bound.
Two ways to address this:
- Improve the response rate: usually a browser extension rollout question. See Why is response rate low?
- Check with people directly: if 12 seats look unused but you know one of those people uses the tool every day, check they're assigned to it and are being asked
Even with an imperfect response rate, the relative picture is usually reliable: the tools with the most unused seats are the ones most worth looking at.
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