OpenAI Hits 400 Million Users Despite DeepSeek's 'Rise'

The San Francisco-based tech company reported 400 million weekly active users in February, up 33% from 300 million in December 2024. This is the first time this data has been made public.

According to OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap, ChatGPT’s growing popularity is due to a number of factors, including its ability to better meet user needs. This process happened naturally as more and more people accessed and recognized the utility of the tool. ChatGPT’s spread was largely driven by word of mouth, as users introduced it to friends and colleagues. Over time, more people gradually found ways to leverage the tool to support their work and life, thereby promoting sustainable growth.

In addition to the strong growth of its consumer base, OpenAI is also seeing rapid expansion in its enterprise customer base. The company now has about 2 million paying businesses, double the number it had in September last year. Lightcap said many employees initially used ChatGPT for personal use, then recommended that their companies implement the tool to streamline their workflows. He said the familiarity of individual users with ChatGPT has made it easier for the company to expand into the enterprise space.

At the same time, developer traffic has doubled in the past six months, while demand for its o3 “reasoning” models has increased fivefold. OpenAI is now working with major companies like Uber, Morgan Stanley, Moderna, and T-Mobile to integrate the technology into their applications.

Comparing the rise of cloud services two decades ago, Mr. Lightcap believes that AI will become an indispensable part of business operations. He believes that businesses will increasingly rely on powerful AI models to operate, similar to the way cloud computing changed the way companies operate in the past.

OpenAI’s rapid growth comes amid the emergence of a new competitor from China, DeepSeek. DeepSeek’s launch in January sparked concerns in the market, with investors predicting that the company could impact the profits of American AI companies. On the day of DeepSeek’s launch, Nvidia shares fell 17%, wiping nearly $600 billion off the company’s market capitalization.

However, Mr. Lightcap asserted that the appearance of DeepSeek does not change OpenAI's open source orientation, development roadmap, or investment strategy. According to him, DeepSeek is proof that AI has entered the stage of widespread popularity, something that was hard to imagine just two years ago.

In addition to competitive pressure, OpenAI also faces legal challenges, most notably a lawsuit from billionaire Elon Musk. OpenAI’s co-founder filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging breach of contract when it transitioned to a for-profit model.

OpenAI continues to attract strong investor interest. Microsoft has poured billions into the company, while SoftBank is close to a $40 billion investment deal that could value OpenAI at as much as $300 billion.

Musk and a group of investors have also offered to buy the assets of the nonprofit OpenAI for $97.4 billion earlier this month. However, OpenAI's board of directors quickly rejected the offer, saying it was not a valid proposal. OpenAI President Bret Taylor also said the company was not for sale.