ChatGPT surges to 700M weekly users - what fueled the latest leap?

OpenAI expects ChatGPT to reach 700 million weekly active users during the week of 24 June, up from 500 million in late March, according to vice president of ChatGPT product Nick Turley.

Steady growth in weekly usage

In a 21 June post on X, Turley said ChatGPT’s user base has quadrupled in the past year. The company reports usage in weekly increments, making direct comparisons with daily-active-user figures from other platforms imperfect, but the trendline is clear.

• 700 million weekly active users projected for the week of 24 June 2024.
• 500 million weekly active users reported on 27 March 2024.
• 100 million weekly active users announced at DevDay on 6 November 2023.

Turley framed the growth as evidence that recent feature additions - including team workspaces and a refreshed desktop app - are resonating with both individuals and organisations.

How the milestone stacks up

By consumer internet standards, ChatGPT is expanding at an exceptional pace. For comparison, Microsoft reported passing 100 million daily active users for Bing Chat one month after launch in 2023. Search giant Google handled about 4 billion daily queries in 2009, underscoring the gap between traditional search and generative-AI assistants.

Datos' May 2024 figures, cited in a Wall Street Journal report, indicate that AI chat tools already account for 5.6 % of U.S. desktop searches, suggesting headroom for further growth.

Sources

OpenAI’s user numbers are self-reported and have not been independently audited, but the company has provided regular updates since November 2023.

• Nick Turley writing on X, 21 June 2024.
• Nick Turley post on X, 27 March 2024.
• Sam Altman DevDay keynote, 6 November 2023.