ChatGPT Surges to 700 Million Weekly Users as OpenAI Prepares for GPT-5 Launch

OpenAI says ChatGPT is on track to reach 700M weekly users | TechCrunch

ChatGPT's impressive growth as a consumer app continues as the chatbot is on track to hit 700 million weekly active users this week, the company says. The app had earlier reached 500 million weekly active users as of the end of March, noted Nick Turley, OpenAI VP and head of ChatGPT's app, in a post on X. He also said the app has grown 4x since last year. "Every day, people and teams are learning, creating, and solving harder problems. Big week ahead. Grateful to the team for making ChatGPT more useful and delivering on our mission so everyone can benefit from AI," he posted. The app's popularity increased after OpenAI launched an upgraded image generation feature, powered by the GPT-4 model, in March. In early April, the company's COO, Brad Lightcap, said that more than 130 million users had created over 700 million images in just a few days after the launch. The company has also seen an increase in subscribers. Last week, Lightcap said that ChatGPT had 5 million paying business users, up from 3 million in June. In a recent report, market intelligence firm Sensor Tower noted that users are using ChatGPT for more than 12 days a month on average, only behind Google and X. The report also said that in H1 2025, users spent an average of 16 minutes per day on the app.

OpenAI's ChatGPT to hit 700 million weekly users, up 4x from last year

The milestone follows news last week that OpenAI secured $8.3 billion from top investors, including Dragoneer Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. OpenAI is set to hit 700 million weekly active users for ChatGPT this week, up from 500 million in March, marking a more than fourfold year-over-year surge in growth, the company said Monday. The figure spans all ChatGPT artificial intelligence products -- free, Plus Pro, Enterprise, Team, and Edu -- and comes as daily user messages surpassed 3 billion, according to the company. The growth rate is also accelerating, compared with 2.5 times year-over-year growth at this time last year. "Every day, people and teams are learning, creating, and solving harder problems," said Nick Turley, VP of product for ChatGPT, in announcing the benchmark. OpenAI now has 5 million paying business users on ChatGPT, up from 3 million in June, as enterprises and educators increasingly integrate AI tools.

ChatGPT rockets to 700M weekly users ahead of GPT-5 launch with reasoning superpowers

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now OpenAI's ChatGPT will reach 700 million weekly active users this week, the company announced Monday, cementing its position as one of the fastest-adopted software products in history just as the company prepares to release its most powerful language model yet. The surge is a 40 percent jump from the 500 million weekly users ChatGPT had at the end of March and marks a fourfold increase from the same period last year. The explosive growth rivals the adoption rates of platforms like Zoom during the pandemic and early social media networks, underscoring how quickly AI tools have moved from experimental to essential. The milestone comes at a strategic moment for OpenAI, which reportedly plans to launch GPT-5 in early August, citing sources familiar with the company's plans. The timing suggests OpenAI is orchestrating a coordinated push to dominate the AI landscape before competitors can close the gap. "Every day, people and teams are learning, creating, and solving harder problems," said Nick Turley, OpenAI's vice president of product for ChatGPT, in announcing the user benchmark. "Big week ahead." GPT-5 will combine reasoning powers into single AI system The upcoming model goes beyond an incremental upgrade. According to people briefed on the project who spoke to The Information, GPT-5 will integrate OpenAI's advanced reasoning capabilities from its o3 series directly into the flagship GPT platform, creating what CEO Sam Altman has described as "a system that integrates a lot of our technology." This integration marks a strategic shift for OpenAI, which has previously released reasoning models separately from its general-purpose language models. By combining these capabilities, the company aims to reduce user confusion about which model to deploy for specific tasks while creating a more powerful unified system. The consolidation also serves OpenAI's broader ambition to achieve artificial general intelligence, or AGI -- a milestone that would trigger significant changes to its partnership with Microsoft. Under their current agreement, achieving AGI would force Microsoft to relinquish its rights to OpenAI's revenue and future models, potentially reshaping one of the most consequential partnerships in technology. Altman has tempered expectations, however, stating that GPT-5 won't reach "gold level of capability for many months" after launch, suggesting the AGI threshold remains beyond immediate reach. Business customers jump to 5 million as revenue hits $13 billion The user growth reflects ChatGPT's expanding role in corporate America. OpenAI now serves 5 million paying business customers, up from 3 million in June, as enterprises increasingly integrate AI tools into core operations. Daily user messages have surpassed 3 billion, reflecting not just growth in users but intensifying engagement with the platform. This surge in business adoption has driven OpenAI's annual recurring revenue to $13 billion, up from $10 billion in June, with projections suggesting it could exceed $20 billion by year-end. The revenue growth, combined with a recent $8.3 billion funding round that valued OpenAI at $300 billion, provides the financial foundation for the massive infrastructure investments required to maintain its technological edge. Those investments are substantial. OpenAI has committed to a $30 billion annual lease with Oracle for data center capacity and struck an $11.9 billion deal with cloud provider CoreWeave, while planning international expansion through partnerships like Stargate Norway and a major data center project in Abu Dhabi. Google, Meta and Anthropic chase OpenAI's dominant lead The rapid growth comes as OpenAI faces mounting pressure from well-funded rivals eager to capture market share. Google's AI search product, AI Overviews, claims 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries, while its Gemini App reports 450 million monthly active users. Anthropic, backed by significant investments from Amazon and others, is reportedly seeking to raise up to $5 billion at a $170 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. Meta has made significant strides with its Llama models, while Elon Musk's xAI continues to attract attention and investment. The competitive landscape has intensified the AI arms race, with companies pouring billions into compute infrastructure and talent acquisition. The competition has triggered a talent war among tech giants. Microsoft has reportedly hired more than 20 employees from Google's DeepMind team in recent months, including former Gemini engineering head Amar Subramanya, The Information reported, as companies raid each other's AI talent pools. ChatGPT adds wellness features as AI safety concerns grow As OpenAI pursues raw capability improvements, the company has also emphasized optimizing ChatGPT for user well-being and productivity. The company recently outlined efforts to help users "thrive in the ways you choose -- not to hold your attention, but to help you use it well." New features include break reminders and improved support for challenging situations, reflecting growing awareness of AI's psychological and social impacts. This focus on responsible deployment could prove crucial as regulatory scrutiny intensifies and public debate about AI's societal effects continues. When GPT-5 launches, it will include multiple variants -- including mini and nano versions available through OpenAI's API -- providing developers and enterprises with options tailored to different use cases and computational requirements. 700 million users signal AI's mainstream business adoption The convergence of ChatGPT's user growth and GPT-5's launch marks a pivotal moment for the AI industry. OpenAI's ability to maintain its lead while competitors rapidly advance will likely determine the sector's trajectory for years to come. The company's success has already reshaped how businesses think about AI integration, moving the technology from experimental projects to core operational tools. The 700 million user figure shows this transformation is accelerating, with implications extending far beyond technology into education, creative industries, and knowledge work. For enterprise customers, the user growth provides confidence in ChatGPT's stability and longevity -- crucial factors for organizations making long-term AI investments. The platform's scale also creates network effects, as widespread adoption drives improvements in model training and capability development. OpenAI now faces a test that will define the company's future: whether it can convert unprecedented user growth into sustained market dominance. In a field where yesterday's breakthrough becomes tomorrow's baseline, 700 million users might just be the beginning.

ChatGPT Crosses 700 Million Weekly Users, Focus Shifts to Real-World Helpfulness | AIM

Instead of optimising for time spent or clicks, OpenAI says it focuses on whether users leave ChatGPT having completed what they came for. OpenAI's ChatGPT is on track to reach 700 million weekly active users, up from 500 million at the end of March, according to Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT. The chatbot has seen 4× growth since last year, signalling a growing reliance on AI for learning, productivity, and problem-solving. "Big week ahead. Grateful to the team for making ChatGPT more useful and delivering on our mission so everyone can benefit from AI," he said in a post on X. OpenAI also published a blog post in which it said that it built ChatGPT to help users thrive in all the ways they want. "To make progress, learn something new, or solve a problem -- and then get back to your life. Our goal isn't to hold your attention, but to help you use it well," OpenAI said in its blog post. Instead of o

OpenAI Adds 200 Million Weekly Users in 4 Months | PYMNTS.com

"This week, ChatGPT is on track to reach 700M weekly active users -- up from 500M at the end of March and 4× since last year," Nick Turley, the company's head of product, wrote in a post on X Monday (Aug. 4). "Every day, people and teams are learning, creating, and solving harder problems. Big week ahead. Grateful to the team for making ChatGPT more useful and delivering on our mission so everyone can benefit from AI." The news comes as OpenAI is set to debut its GPT-5 model. According to published reports last month, this model will incorporate distinct AI models to perform different functions, as well as OpenAI's o3 model and other technologies. This follows CEO Sam Altman's statement in February that the company is working to simplify its offerings by unifying its o-series models and GPT-series models, thus creating systems that can use all the company's tools and be useful for a range of tasks. "We want AI to 'just work' for you; we realize how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten," Altman wrote. "We hate the model picker as much as you do and want to return to magic unified intelligence." Last week, OpenAI was valued at $300 billion after concluding its latest round of fundraising, which was five times oversubscribed. The startup snagged $8.3 billion months earlier than expected, per a report from The New York Times' DealBook. The funding is part of the company's effort to secure $40 billion in funding this year, to which SoftBank has pledged $30 billion. The biggest investor was Dragoneer Investment Group, at $2.8 billion. DealBook called it an "astonishing check" from a single venture fund that "may be one of the largest ever written." Meanwhile, new research from PYMNTS Intelligence shows growing optimism about generative AI among chief product officers, particularly in the tech sector. That's a factor likely driven in part by a stronger familiarity with AI tools. "This divergence matters. Tech firms moving to operationalize gen AI are better positioned to shape internal standards, influence vendor priorities and define early benchmarks for success -- all outcomes that can fuel widespread adoption across other industries," PYMNTS wrote. "By contrast, sectors still weighing trade-offs may forgo speed in exchange for certainty, but they risk falling behind as gen AI tools evolve at lightning speed."