OpenAI has 400 million active users per week, accounting for 5% of the world's population
OpenAI's weekly active users have exceeded 400 million, making it a global phenomenon-level AI platform.
Core content:
1. OpenAI ChatGPT's user base has grown rapidly, with 400 million weekly active users
2. The enterprise business has grown significantly, with paid enterprise users doubling
3. Faced with the challenge of Chinese competitor DeepSeek, OpenAI's strategy remains unchanged
Despite the increasingly fierce competition in the field of artificial intelligence, OpenAI is still showing strong growth momentum. According to Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's chief operating officer, as of February, OpenAI's ChatGPT has attracted 400 million active users per week, an increase of 33% from 300 million in December last year. This data has not been made public before.
Lightcap said the popularity of ChatGPT is the result of a "natural progression". As more people recognize its practical uses and learn about its value through word of mouth, ChatGPT is gradually becoming an everyday tool for a wider range of people. "People see its usefulness, their friends start using it, and it takes some time for individuals to find the best use case for it," he said.
This growth is not only reflected on the consumer side, OpenAI's enterprise business is also booming. Lightcap revealed that OpenAI's current paid corporate users have reached 2 million, nearly doubling from September. Employees are often the first users. After experiencing the value of ChatGPT in their actual work, they recommend that the company further adopt the tool. The company also emphasized that developer participation has also increased significantly, and developers have incorporated OpenAI's technology into their own applications.
For OpenAI, the trend of all this is reminiscent of the cloud service launched by Amazon 20 years ago. "Artificial intelligence will become an indispensable part of the enterprise, just like cloud services," said Lightcap.
However, OpenAI's success is not without challenges. With the rise of Chinese competitor DeepSeek, OpenAI is also facing unprecedented pressure. DeepSeek's rapid development has aroused investors' concerns, especially the impact on the future profitability of American technology companies. The emergence of DeepSeek even caused Nvidia's market value to evaporate by nearly $600 billion, becoming the focus of the market.
Still, Lightcap said OpenAI has not changed its strategic direction. "The popularity of DeepSeek has brought AI into the mainstream public consciousness in a big way. Two years ago, this was unfathomable," he said. "This is a moment that shows how powerful these models are and how much people care about them."
He also added that despite the competition, OpenAI remains committed to maintaining open source code and product innovation to continue to advance the company's long-term development.
In addition to the pressure from competition, OpenAI also needs to deal with challenges from the legal field. The company's co-founder Elon Musk recently filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for its profit-making measures, accusing it of breach of contract. At the same time, Microsoft and SoftBank have also invested billions of dollars in OpenAI to help it maintain its strong momentum in the capital market.
Despite external pressure and internal challenges, OpenAI remains highly competitive in the field of artificial intelligence. As its products and services continue to penetrate more industries, OpenAI's future seems to be full of potential.
