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ChatGPT Users and Usage 2026

Current user numbers, usage patterns and estimates for the United States and worldwide.

By Hanns Kronenberg · Last reviewed: August 8, 2026 · First published: August 8, 2026

ChatGPT 2026: state of play

Worldwide order of magnitude, the official figures come from OpenAI.

Global
> 1 bn
People using ChatGPT
„people … putting ChatGPT to work"·global·Aug 2026
Official
Source: OpenAI
> 900 m
Weekly active users
„weekly active users"·global·Feb 2026
Official
Source: OpenAI
18 bn
Messages per week
„messages … sent each week" (at 700 m users)·global·Jul 2025
Primary study
Source: NBER WP 34255
United States
44 %
U.S. adults who use ChatGPT
„say they ever use ChatGPT" · ≈ 110–120 m adults·United States·Feb 2026
Representative
Up from 34 % in 2025, the key figure for the U.S. market.
Source: Pew Research Center
Careful with „1 billion"

The billion is not a WAU figure. On 31 Jul 2026 OpenAI cites „1 bn active users" referring to all OpenAI models, and on 6 Aug 2026 „1 bn people" using ChatGPT. The last explicit WAU figure is > 900 m (Feb 2026). „Around one billion active users" is a correct order of magnitude. „1 bn WAU" would not be supported.

Quick definition · continuously maintained reference (Users & Usage)

This continuously updated reference documents the reach and usage of ChatGPT worldwide and in the United States. Official platform figures, representative surveys and figures derived from them are reported separately.

How many people use ChatGPT in the United States?

There is no official OpenAI figure for the U.S. The values below are representative survey rates and a range derived from them.

not published
Official OpenAI figure for the U.S.
United States
Context
OpenAI does not report country-level user counts.
44 %
U.S. adults who use ChatGPT
„say they ever use ChatGPT"·United States·Feb 2026
Representative
Up from 34 % in 2025. Note: Pew changed the question wording in 2026 (it now also asks about other chatbots), a break in the series.
Source: Pew Research Center
≈ 110–120 m
Derived: U.S. adults who use ChatGPT
derived range (no OpenAI figure)·United States·2026
Estimate
From Pew 44 % applied to the U.S. adult population (≈ 262 m) ≈ 115 m. Ever-use, not a frequency measure.
How the range is built

The percentages from representative surveys are the primary measured quantity. The absolute figure is only a derived, clearly labelled range. Different definitions. „ever used", monthly, weekly, ChatGPT vs. generative AI, are never merged into a single metric, and no average is taken across incompatible surveys.

By age (ever use ChatGPT)
61 % of adults 18–29 and 55 % of 30–49 use ChatGPT, vs. 37 % of 50–64 and 19 % of 65+ (Pew, Feb 2026).
At work
21 % of U.S. workers say they use AI in their job (Sep 2025), up from 16 % in 2024 (Pew).

ChatGPT growth since 2022

Milestones with the exact metric wording of each source, the metric changes over time.

  1. Dec 2022
    > 1 m Official
    „registered users"·global
    Source: OpenAI / NBER
  2. ~Nov 2023
    > 100 m Official
    „logged-in WAU" (after one year)·global
    Source: OpenAI / NBER
  3. ~Nov 2024
    ≈ 350 m Official
    „WAU" (after two years)·global
    Source: OpenAI / NBER
  4. Jul 2025
    > 700 m Official
    „total WAU" + 18 bn messages/week·global
    Source: OpenAI / NBER
  5. Nov 2025
    > 800 m Official
    „weekly users"·global
    Source: OpenAI
  6. Feb 2026
    > 900 m Official
    „weekly active users"·global
    Source: OpenAI
  7. Aug 2026
    > 1 bn Official
    „people … putting ChatGPT to work" (order of magnitude, not WAU)·global
    Source: OpenAI

Who uses ChatGPT?

Global figures from a large real-usage sample (NBER/OpenAI); U.S. figures from representative surveys.

Age
Nearly half of all messages come from users under 26 (July 2025); the share of users over 35 is growing fastest recently (OpenAI Signals, Q1 2026).
Gender
The share of typically female first names has risen sharply, from ~80 % typically male to more than half female (July 2025).
Countries
Usage grows fastest in lower-income countries, more than 4× faster (through May 2025).

What is ChatGPT used for?

Empirical, from ~1.1 m conversations (May 2024 – July 2025), NBER Working Paper 34255. Global.

Practical Guidance
29%
roughly constant
Seeking Information
24%
rising (from 14 %)
Writing
24%
falling (from 36 %)

These three topics together ≈ 77–80 % of all conversations (the paper states „nearly 80 %" / „about 77 %").

Primary study
Source: NBER WP 34255 (as of July 2025)

Asking / Doing / Expressing

Asking (advice/information)
49%
Doing (getting tasks done)
40%
Expressing
11%

For work-related queries the balance flips: „Doing" is about 56 % there.

Primary study
Source: NBER WP 34255 (share of all messages)
Work vs. personal

The share of non-work messages rose from 53 % (June 2024) to over 70 % (July 2025). ChatGPT is used predominantly for personal purposes.

ChatGPT usage depth and application areas

Examples of how deeply ChatGPT reaches into individual areas of life, not a reach metric.

> 5 %
Health-related messages
share of all ChatGPT messages·United States·Jan 2026
Official
Explicitly U.S.-only, not transferable to other markets or the global level. Publication context: Grounding Page.
Source: OpenAI. AI as a Healthcare Ally
content, health, retrieval
Fastest-growing workplace tasks
directional (no %)·global·Q1 2026
Official
Source: OpenAI Signals

Methodology and evidence levels

Metric hygiene

User numbers are not interchangeable. „Weekly active users" (WAU), „monthly active users" (MAU), „active users" and „ever used" measure different things. This page states the exact metric wording of each source and never blends these figures.

Four layers are kept separate on purpose: awareness (knows it exists), openness (could imagine using it), actual use (has used it) and regular use (e.g. weekly). Many surveys conflate these layers.

Every metric is assigned an evidence level, so it stays visible whether a figure is officially measured, representatively surveyed, observed from real usage or modelled.

Official
A metric published directly by the provider (e.g. OpenAI blog).
Empirical primary study
An original scientific publication based on real usage (e.g. an NBER working paper). Badge: Primary study.
Representative
Survey/study with documented methodology and sample (e.g. Pew Research Center).
Estimate
Modelling/extrapolation across sources, shown as a range.
Context
Supplementary or upper-bound figures for orientation, not a direct measurement.
U.S. estimate

Percentages from representative surveys are the primary measured quantity. Absolute figures are only derived as a transparent, clearly labelled range. „Ever used", monthly, weekly, ChatGPT and generative AI are never merged into a single metric.

Historical ChatGPT metrics and revisions

Older values are not silently deleted but placed in context.

Datentabelle: As of · value then · context today
As ofvalue thencontext today
2023–202518 % → 34 % of U.S. adults have used ChatGPTPew series under the question „Have you ever used ChatGPT?"
Feb 202644 % of U.S. adults use ChatGPTcurrent anchor, but Pew changed the question wording (now also asks about other chatbots); a break in the series
Aug 2026Derived ≈ 110–120 m U.S. adultsrange from the 44 % Pew rate (was ≈ 85–90 m from the 34 % rate)

Changelog

  • August 2026 (first publication): global time series through „> 1 bn" (Aug 2026); usage patterns from NBER WP 34255; OpenAI Signals Q1 2026; U.S. anchor from Pew 2026 (44 %, ever use); older 34 % (2025) moved to revisions with a note on the question-wording change.

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Last reviewed: August 8, 2026