when chatgpt Parent company Openai was first launched in November 2022 to use it as a productivity tool and game-changing enterprise job tasks such as replying to emails or writing memos. Openai just released New paper The way hundreds of millions of people around the world actually use Chatgpt is studied, and the results show that there has been an amazing change in how people use it. What started out with a work assistant was a tool that people use in their personal lives.
In mid-2024, almost half of all conversations on Chatgpt are about work. By mid-2025, this number has fallen to more than a quarter.
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This doesn’t mean people use chatbots. According to reports from the National Bureau of Economic Research and contributors from OpenAI, Duke and Harvard, Chatgpt has approximately 700 million weekly active users every week, sending more than 2.5 billion messages per day or about 29,000 messages per second.
In short, more and more people are using the platform – just for work-related queries.
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This article describes the transition from requiring Chatgpt to perform tasks (such as writing text) to asking users to ask questions. For example, “Writing help accounts for more than a third of the use last year. Now, it’s close to a quarter.”
Meanwhile, “seeking information” has grown from 14% of all conversations to 24%, meaning people are using chatgpt more Search engine replacement for information and guidance.
“Overall, our findings suggest that Chatgpt has a wide range of impacts on the global economy,” the paper notes. “The fact that non-work usage is getting faster and faster indicates that the benefits gains from generative AI use may be considerable.”
(Disclosure: CNET’s parent company Ziff Davis filed a lawsuit against Chatgpt Maker Openai in April, accusing it of infringing on Ziff Davis’ copyright in training and operating its AI systems.)
Who is driving this change
The Openai paper also examines the demographic information behind these inquiries:
- gender: Early users favored men. In January 2024, only 37% of users’ names are generally considered feminine. As of July 2025, the group has grown to 52% of all users, meaning that women (or women with female names) use the system with approximately equal or slightly higher usage rates than men.
- age: Nearly half (46%) of ChatGPT users self-reported that they are between the ages of 18 and 25. This young demographic is beneficial for individual queries, such as asking for hobbies or seeking advice, while older users are more likely to use CHATGPT for work-related tasks.
- geography: ChatGpt usage is no longer concentrated in wealthier countries. The fastest growing are low- and middle-income countries, with per capita GDP ranging from $10,000 to $40,000, and smartphones are often the main portal to the internet.
- educate: Users with a college degree or higher are more likely to use Chatgpt for professional tasks. For example, 37% of the news were related to users with less than a bachelor’s degree, 46% of the news were related to users with a bachelor’s degree, and 48% were related to people with some graduate education. Non-degree users can still participate heavily, mainly using chatbots for daily issues and support.
- Profession: The paper also found that users of high-paying majors and technical professions were more likely to use Chatgpt for work.
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