It took ChatGPT nine months to increase its weekly active users from 100 million in November 2023 to 200 million in August 2024, but it only took less than six months to double that number once more, according to the report. ChatGPT’s weekly active users increased to 300 million by December 2024 and 400 million by February 2025. ChatGPT has experienced significant growth recently due to the launch of new models and features, such as GPT-4o, with multimodal capabilities.

OpenAI has introduced its AI coding agent, Codex, powered by codex-1, a version of its o3 AI reasoning model designed for software engineering tasks. The coding agent may take anywhere from one to 30 minutes to complete tasks such as writing simple features, fixing bugs, answering questions about your codebase, and running tests. When it launched in November 2022, ChatGPT signalled a new era for artificial intelligence. Developed by OpenAI, the AI chatbot became a hugely popular tool almost overnight. Built on Large Language Models, it’s able to understand human queries written as plain text prompts and generate conversational responses. OpenAI has added a few features to its ChatGPT search, its web search tool in ChatGPT, to give users an improved online shopping experience.

The free tier is fine for casual users, but if ChatGPT is built into your workflow, you’ll need to pay for a subscription to unlock the faster processing and greater reliability of the latest models. OpenAI announces the release of its o1 model, which demonstrates complex reasoning capabilities. To kick off the start of its o1 model family, OpenAI also announces the limited release of its o1-preview and o1-mini models. Advanced voice mode becomes available on web browsers — before, it could only be accessed on mobile and desktop formats. The feature is also still exclusive to ChatGPT users who have a Plus, Team, Enterprise or Education plan.

Are ChatGPT chats public?

ChatGPT now receives 2.5 billion prompts daily from users worldwide, including roughly 330 million from the U.S. That’s more than double the volume reported by CEO Sam Altman just eight months ago, highlighting the chatbot’s explosive growth. Since its May 2023 launch, ChatGPT’s mobile app has amassed $2 billion in global consumer spending, dwarfing competitors like Claude, Copilot, and Grok by roughly 30 times, according to Appfigures. This year alone, the app has generated $1.35 billion, a 673% increase from the same period in 2024, averaging nearly $193 million per month, or 53 times more than its nearest rival, Grok. Based on our extensive hands-on experience with ChatGPT, it’s a powerful tool with a lot of uses.

Several major school systems and colleges, including New York City Public Schools, have banned ChatGPT from their networks and devices. They claim that the AI impedes the learning process by promoting plagiarism and misinformation, a claim that not every educator agrees with. OpenAI allows users to save chats in the ChatGPT interface, stored in the sidebar of the screen. Due to the nature of how these models work, they don’t know or care whether something is true, only that it looks true.

Sam Altman addresses GPT-5 glitches and “chart crime” during Reddit AMA

• Not only can ChatGPT generate working computer code of its own (in many different languages), but it can also translate code from one language to another, and debug existing code.
• This update allows ChatGPT to remember details from previous conversations and tailor its future responses accordingly.
• However, users have noted that there are some character limitations after around 500 words.

For instance, if you ask ChatGPT a question like “What sites should I see in my upcoming vacation to Paris? People can use ChatGPT for advice on their relationships, finances and even their health. CNET found itself in the midst of controversy after Futurism reported the publication was publishing articles under a mysterious byline completely generated by AI. The private equity company that owns CNET, Red Ventures, was accused of using ChatGPT for SEO farming, even if the information was incorrect. A chatbot can be any software/system that holds dialogue with you/a person but doesn’t necessarily have to be AI-powered.

Recent updates mean ChatGPT’s free plan now includes access to ChatGPT search and image generation using OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 model, meaning you can get a lot done without a paid subscription. OpenAI has already gotten a glimpse of this future through its o1 model, and the results have been mixed. According to research conducted by OpenAI and AI safety organization Apollo Research, o1 provides more intelligent answers than GPT-4o while also attempting to deceive users more than any major AI model available. These new potential dangers need to be factored into the continued progression of ChatGPT. Advanced voice mode enables ChatGPT users to have more natural-sounding conversations when interacting with the chatbot.

OpenAI clarifies the reason ChatGPT became overly flattering and agreeable

As a shortcut for everyday queries or a way to turbocharge your workflow, though, ChatGPT has plenty of potential. The AI chatbot tries its best to avoid explicit, violent or discriminatory content. It won’t engage in political discussions, nor will it offer legal, medical or financial advice on an individual basis.

Its conversational interface makes it easy for almost anyone to interact with the chatbot, whether you’re asking it to summarize a report or generate an image. The quality of its responses often depends on the wording and context of the prompt, which can vary significantly. ChatGPT can create computer code from natural language instructions or troubleshoot existing code. It can write a wedding speech for you or re-write your draft in a way that flows better. It can create personalized workout plans, generate business ideas and even act as your therapist.

It’s capable of carrying on conversations with human users and generating a wide range of text outputs including recipes, computer code, essays and personal letters. It can also critique the user’s writing, summarize long documents and translate text from one language to another. The paid version of ChatGPT also offers features like image and voice inputs and integrations with other OpenAI services like the image generator DALL-E. OpenAI made a notable change to its content moderation policies after the success of its new image generator in ChatGPT, which went viral for being able to create Studio Ghibli-style images. The company has updated its policies to allow ChatGPT to generate images of public figures, hateful symbols, and racial features when requested. OpenAI had previously declined such prompts due to the potential controversy or harm they may cause.

OpenAI could release GPT-4.1 soon

New features are being added all of the time, so read on to find out what ChatGPT can do and why it’s worth using. GPT-5 was launched on August 7, 2025, and is publicly accessible through ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and via OpenAI’s API. Custom instructions allow users to save directions that apply to all interactions, rather than adding them to every request. Hallucinations can become a huge issue if ChatGPT is being used to, say, write a news article, or ask questions about historical events, or get healthcare advice. Or, in the case of one New York lawyer, use ChatGPT for a brief in a client’s personal injury case (where it inadvertently cited six non-existent court decisions).

• This allows ChatGPT to take a sequence of words a user gives it, such as a half-completed sentence, and fill in the blanks with the most statistically probable word given the surrounding context — sort of like auto-complete.
• This feature is rolling out to ChatGPT Pro and Plus users first, excluding those in the U.K., EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
• OpenAI has faced quite a bit of criticism for how students can use ChatGPT to cheat on their homework or exams, and the company.introduced a study mode tool to directly address those concerns.
• OpenAI rolled out new tools designed to help developers and businesses build AI agents — automated systems that can independently accomplish tasks — using the company’s own AI models and frameworks.

At the same time, its release prompted extensive media coverage and public debate about the nature of creativity and the future of knowledge work. Similar to a phone’s auto-complete feature, ChatGPT uses a prediction model to guess the most likely next word based on the context it has been provided. The model has been trained through a combination of automated learning and human feedback to generate chicken road game text that closely matches what you’d expect to see in text written by a human.

The full capabilities of ChatGPT are still being explored by its millions of users. Almost any query that can be phrased and answered using written words can be addressed – or at least attempted – by ChatGPT. Its remit can be summarized as language-based tasks, whether that language is English, foreign or computer code. This update allows users to create customized GPTs that follow specific instructions and knowledge provided by the builder. Despite these clear advances compared to prior models, GPT-5 is still susceptible to the same problems that plagued its predecessors.

OpenAI also faced its share of internal drama, including the notable exits of high-level execs like co-founder and longtime chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and CTO Mira Murati. OpenAI has also been hit with lawsuits from Alden Global Capital-owned newspapers alleging copyright infringement, as well as an injunction from Elon Musk to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit. The paid experience is faster and more accurate than the free tier, turning up better quality responses across a range of queries and topics. That said, it’s still vulnerable to factual inaccuracies and hallucinations, while data sourced from the web isn’t necessarily the most up-to-date. The interface and features are broadly consistent, but the mobile apps come with the added benefit of being able to engage in a voice conversation with ChatGPT, by tapping the audio icon next to the text input field.

Racism, sexism and all manner of prejudices run rampant online, and it is up to the individual to decide how much weight to give it. So, despite the guardrails OpenAI has put in place to prevent it, the chatbot still has a tendency to let biases creep into its outputs. OpenAI, an AI research company based in San Francisco, created ChatGPT, releasing it publicly on November 30, 2022.

OpenAI for Countries is part of efforts to support the company’s expansion of its AI data center Project Stargate to new locations outside the U.S., per Bloomberg. OpenAI upgraded ChatGPT’s conversational voice mood for all paid users across different markets and platforms. The startup has launched an update to Advanced Voice that enables users to converse with ChatGPT out loud in a more natural and fluid sound. The feature also helps users translate languages more easily, the comapny said. OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Agent, which completes a wide variety of computer-based tasks on behalf of users and combines several capabilities like Operator and Deep Research, according to the company. OpenAI says the agent can automatically navigate a user’s calendar, draft editable presentations and slideshows, run code, shop online, and handle complex workflows from end to end, all within a secure virtual environment.

ChatGPT now has study mode

Operator promises to automate tasks such as booking travel accommodations, making restaurant reservations, and shopping online. By popular request, GPT-4.1 will be available directly in ChatGPT starting today.GPT-4.1 is a specialized model that excels at coding tasks & instruction following. Because it’s faster, it’s a great alternative to OpenAI o3 & o4-mini for everyday coding needs. Below, you’ll find a timeline of ChatGPT product updates and releases, starting with the latest, which we’ve been updating throughout the year.

OpenAI is currently in the early stages of developing its own social media platform to compete with Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram and Threads, according to The Verge. It is unclear whether OpenAI intends to launch the social network as a standalone application or incorporate it into ChatGPT. OpenAI says the collaboration will help the UAE leverage its AI tools across critical sectors such as government, energy, healthcare, education, and transportation, driving innovation and economic growth. For more than a decade, Chris has been finding and featuring the best kit you can carry. When he’s not writing about his favourite things for Stuff, you’ll find Chris field-testing the latest gear for TechRadar. From cameras to classic cars, he appreciates anything that gets better with age.

OpenAI released GPT-5, calling it its “fastest” and “smartest” AI model to date. Based on internal evaluations, GPT-5 outperforms its predecessors in multiple areas, including math, coding, visual perception and health knowledge. It is now available to both paying and non-paying ChatGPT users, with usage limitations of course. However, it was labeled underwhelming by some users due its performance shortly after its release.

According to OpenAI, builders based in the United States will be eligible for payments based on the usage of their custom GPTs. OpenAI announced the addition of product recommendations on ChatGPT when users implied shopping intent in their queries. While users cannot checkout inside ChatGPT, they are redirected to the merchant’s website when they click on the link. The new features also provide enhanced analytics referral links if they enable their robots.txt files to interact with OpenAI’s site crawler. Instead of a list of websites, though, it’ll provide users with a simple list of answers.