OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, now has over 400 million weekly active users. That figure marks a 33% increase over the last three months, according to OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap.
The COO credits the growth of users to word of mouth and people using ChatGPT and other services in their personal lives before recommending businesses they work for use OpenAI tech.
“People hear about it through word of mouth. They see the utility of it. They see their friends using it,” said Lightcap to CNBC. “There’s an overall effect of people really wanting these tools, and seeing that these tools are really valuable.”
Lightcap specified that OpenAI has over 2 million enterprise users, which is about double the number of enterprise users last September.
“We get a lot of benefits, and a tail wind from the organic consumer adoption where people already have familiarity with the product,” said the COO. “There’s really healthy growth, on a different curve.”
Lightcap also told CNBC that developer traffic has doubled over the past six months. A large portion of that bump is due to OpenAI’s o3 model. That model performed very well in benchmarks, though those results came into question due to the fact that OpenAI funded FrontierMath’s benchmarking data.
DeepSeek vs OpenAI
When DeepSeek burst onto the AI scene, many assumed the competition would affect OpenAI and ChatGPT negatively. It’s not clear if the emergence of DeepSeek has hurt the user count of OpenAI’s services, but Lightcap framed the new competition as a positive in recent comments.
“DeepSeek is a testament to how much AI is like entered the public consciousness in the mainstream — it would have been unfathomable two years ago,” said Lightcap. “It’s a moment that shows how powerful these models are and how much people really care.”
Lightcap sharing user figures for AI services may be in response to the growth of interest in DeepSeek.
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OpenAI lost $5 billion in 2024. The company also spends $700,000 per day to run ChatGPT. It’s important for OpenAI to drive engagement and bring in more paid users if the company wants to succeed and compete with an ever-growing set of competitors.
News about AI travels quickly, often outpacing context and confirmation of all facts. For example, a recent study stated claims of ChatGPT’s power usage were based on “napkin math.” Companies like OpenAI need to get out in front of speculation and rumors to reflect themselves in a positive way.
Highlighting an increase of users could also help OpenAI in its efforts to compete with Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants.
