OpenAI has claimed a historic milestone of reaching 400 million active weekly users. The AI creator powering ChatGPT is showing rapid growth, with the last reported figure of 300 million users recorded in December 2024. OpenAI has so far withheld the number of paid subscribers to ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro services.
It looks like OpenAI is moving so fast without being put down by increasing competition. As the chief operating officer of the San Francisco-based technology company, Brad Lightcap said that the company had seen an increase of 400 million from 300 million by February-furthermore, an increase of 33% since December-as of February. The figures have never been shared before.
“The natural progression as it becomes more useful and more familiar to broader sets of people,” said Lightcap.
“People talk about it; they see the utility. They see their friends using it. There is an overall effect of people really wanting these tools, and seeing that these tools are really valuable. It takes a while for people to find use cases that best resonate with them,” Lightcap said in an interview.
ChatGPT is rapidly tapping business consumers. OpenAI recently had 2 million paying enterprise customers, whose number has doubled since September 2024, Lightcap pointed out. A lot of employees use ChatGPT personally and then recommend it to their businesses for wider adoption.
“We get a lot of benefits and a tail wind from the organic consumer adoption where people already have familiarity with the product,” he continued.
OpenAI’s developer APIs saw a traffic spike as well, with uses doubling over the last six months and the company’s “reasoning” model o3. Developers incorporate OpenAI technology into their applications, with its most notable enterprise customers comprising Uber, Morgan Stanley, Moderna, and T-Mobile.
