OpenAI’s ChatGPT Hits 200 Million Weekly Users

(Reuters) – AI startup OpenAI announced on Thursday that its chatbot ChatGPT has surpassed 200 million weekly active users, double the numbers from last fall.

Launched in 2022, ChatGPT generates human-like responses from user prompts and previously recorded 100 million weekly active users, as stated by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in November.

OpenAI reported that 92% of Fortune 500 companies are utilizing its products. Additionally, the use of its automated Application Programming Interface (NASDAQ:TILE), which enables software programs to communicate with each other, has doubled since the launch of ChatGPT-4o mini in July.

GPT-4o mini is a cost-efficient, smaller AI model designed to make the technology more affordable and energy-efficient, allowing OpenAI to reach a broader customer base.

ChatGPT’s success has significantly boosted the popularity of AI and propelled OpenAI’s valuation sharply higher, making it based in San Francisco.

In a separate development, AI startups OpenAI and Anthropic entered agreements with the U.S. government for research, testing, and evaluation of their AI models, as stated earlier by the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.

Media outlets reported that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) are in discussions to invest in OpenAI as part of a new fundraising effort, which would value the ChatGPT maker at over $100 billion.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), a supporter of OpenAI, is also expected to invest according to these reports.