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OpenAI's flagship chatbot is approaching a landmark this week, with ChatGPT poised to hit 700 million weekly active users, up from 500 million just four months ago. This sharp rise marks a fourfold increase year-over-year, placing the platform among the most widely adopted consumer tech products in the world.
The company confirmed the growth spans across all versions of ChatGPT, including free, Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu. "Every day, people and teams are learning, creating, and solving harder problems," said Nick Turley, VP of Product at OpenAI. In a statement posted on X, Turley noted that user engagement is deepening, with daily interactions now crossing 3 billion messages.
Fueling this surge is a steady increase in business adoption. OpenAI's Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said last week that the company now counts over 5 million paying business customers, up from 3 million in June. "We're seeing accelerated enterprise interest, particularly in sectors like education, healthcare, and finance," Lightcap said during a recent investor webinar.
The rise in usage closely follows OpenAI's announcement of an $8.3 billion funding round led by Dragoneer Investment Group, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. The investment forms part of a larger $40 billion fundraising initiative spearheaded by SoftBank. A source close to the deal revealed the round was completed ahead of schedule and was five times oversubscribed.
OpenAI's revenue momentum has matched its user growth. The company now reports an annualized revenue run rate of $13 billion, up from $10 billion in June. Internal forecasts suggest it could surpass $20 billion by year-end.
OpenAI recently signed a $30 billion annual lease with Oracle for U.S.-based data centers and struck a $11.9 billion agreement with CoreWeave. Further expansion is underway in Europe and the Middle East, including a data center in Abu Dhabi in collaboration with G42.
