The speed of AI adoption is unprecedented for a new technology, and a quick glance at ChatGPT's user stats clearly illustrates that.
The wildly popular AI chatbot from OpenAI is processing at least 2.5 billion messages each day. It's "at least" 2.5 billion, because that most recent number is from July, when ChatGPT had 700 million users. Its latest weekly user count has surged since then to 800 million, according to Sam Altman. That's more than 10% of the world's adult population.
In a paper earlier this year, researchers examined how people were using the AI tool. It listed a few key takeaways:
- 70% of ChatGPT queries are unrelated to work
- The most common kinds of queries fall into three categories: practical guidance, seeking information, and writing
- Writing messages and producing "novel text from scratch" is by far the most common work-related task users give the chatbot
Whatever use people are finding for AI, the researchers came to another conclusion in their study: "For a new technology, this speed of global diffusion has no precedent."
Since their paper was published in July, OpenAI's reach has only grown. It's deepened its ties to the biggest tech companies, but also expanded into a myriad consumer-facing industries. This week, the company inked a deal with Walmart to allow users to buy items from the retailer directly through ChatGPT.
