400 million users: OpenAI shows record growth

OpenAI continues to demonstrate impressive growth, reaching 400 million weekly active users in February 2025. According to data exclusively revealed to CNBC by the company’s Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap, this is 33% higher compared to the 300 million users in December.

“People learn about ChatGPT through word of mouth. They see its usefulness. They see their friends using it,” explains Lightcap, noting the “natural progression” in ChatGPT’s adoption rate among an increasingly broader audience.

The company shows particularly impressive results in the corporate segment. The number of paid corporate users has reached 2 million, doubling since last September. According to Lightcap, this is facilitated by employees who use ChatGPT for personal purposes recommending the tool’s implementation in their companies.

Significant growth is also observed among developers – traffic has doubled over the past six months, and for the o3 reasoning model, it has increased fivefold. Among OpenAI’s largest corporate clients are giants such as Uber, Morgan Stanley, Moderna, and T-Mobile.

The company’s successes are particularly noteworthy against the backdrop of growing competition from open models such as DeepSeek. Despite recent accusations of DeepSeek’s improper use of OpenAI models through distillation techniques, Lightcap emphasizes that the emergence of new competitors does not affect the company’s open-source strategy, product development plans, or investment intentions.

“DeepSeek is evidence of how AI has entered public consciousness. Two years ago, this would have been unthinkable,” notes Lightcap. “This moment shows how powerful these models have become and how important they are to people.”