ChatGPT Just Hit 800 Million Weekly Users—And Its Rivals Aren't Even Close
Sam Altman Reveals ChatGPT Commands 800 Million Weekly Active Users, Effectively Doubling the Combined Reach of All Major Competitors
By Jennifer Sor (https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jennifer-sor)
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2025-10-08T09:15:02Z
- ChatGPT's weekly user count is rapidly approaching the one billion milestone.
- The artificial intelligence-powered chatbot has successfully expanded its user community by more than 100% within just four months, leaving its competition far behind in the dust.
- Business Insider is continuously monitoring the most significant metrics shaping OpenAI's trajectory. Return daily for the latest developments.
Here's Where It Gets Controversial: Is ChatGPT Creating an AI Monopoly?
OpenAI's leader Sam Altman unveiled an absolutely jaw-dropping figure during this week's announcements.
ChatGPT (https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt) has successfully expanded its weekly active user count to a remarkable 800 million individuals. This achievement positions the platform in an undisputed leadership position when compared to its industry rivals. In fact—and this is the part most people miss—even if you were to add up the average user counts of its five primary competitors together, ChatGPT would still command approximately twice that combined number.
The visualization displayed above illustrates average monthly active user statistics. To ensure an accurate comparison, ChatGPT's 3.2 billion monthly figure was derived by taking its 800 million weekly user count and multiplying it by four weeks.
Now, let's contrast that impressive number with the combined 1.575 billion users across Meta AI, Google's Gemini (https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ai-gemini-bard), xAI's Grok (https://www.businessinsider.com/grok-artificial-intelligence-chatbot-elon-musk-xai-explained-2025-7), Perplexity (https://www.businessinsider.com/perplexity-valuation-jumps-to-20-billion-in-latest-fundraise-2025-8), and Anthropic's Claude (https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-ai-model-claude-sonnet-extend-coding-lead-2025-9). Even when you double that competitor total, it only reaches 3.15 billion—still falling short of ChatGPT's dominance. (It's worth noting that Meta AI's numbers encompass users across all of the company's various platforms, rather than being limited to a standalone application.)
Altman shared OpenAI's most recent achievement during his keynote address at the organization's yearly DevDay (https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-saas-software-tools-including-openhouse-hr-sales-support-2025-10) conference held in San Francisco this past Monday.
But Here's the Question Everyone Should Be Asking: Can Anyone Actually Compete?
The data visualization presented below demonstrates that ChatGPT has successfully grown its user community by over 100% during the previous eight-month period, having reported approximately 400 million weekly active users back in February.
Let's walk through a comprehensive timeline documenting its explosive user expansion:
- November 2023: During OpenAI's inaugural DevDay event, Altman announces the company has crossed the threshold of 100 million weekly active users.
- August 2024: According to reporting from Axios, ChatGPT has successfully accumulated 200 million weekly active users.
- December 2024: While speaking at The New York Times DealBook Summit, Altman discloses that the platform has surpassed 300 million weekly active users.
- February 2025: Reuters publishes a report indicating the platform has grown beyond 400 million weekly active users.
- August 2025: The executive leading ChatGPT announced (https://x.com/nickaturley/status/1952385556664520875) the platform was projected to reach 700 million weekly active users, representing significant growth from the 500 million mark achieved at the conclusion of March.
ChatGPT, which made its public debut in the final months of 2022, managed to attract its initial 100 million monthly active users in merely a couple of months. This unprecedented growth velocity earned it the distinction of being the fastest-growing application in recorded history, according to analysis published by UBS analysts in the early part of 2023.
And This Is What Makes It Controversial...
With such dominant market share, some industry observers are beginning to question whether we're witnessing the formation of an AI monopoly. When one platform controls such an overwhelming percentage of the conversational AI market, what does that mean for innovation, competition, and consumer choice? Is this healthy market dominance earned through superior technology, or are we heading toward a concerning concentration of AI power?
"Thanks to all of you, AI has transitioned from something people build and experiment with to something people actively build with on a daily basis," Altman expressed during his conference presentation on Monday.
What Do You Think?
Is ChatGPT's massive lead a testament to genuine innovation and user satisfaction, or should we be concerned about one company dominating the AI conversation space so completely? Do competitors like Google, Meta, and Anthropic still have a realistic chance to catch up, or has the race already been decided? Share your thoughts in the comments below—do you see this as healthy competition or the beginning of an AI monopoly?
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