www.normaltech.ai/p/a-guide-to-understanding-ai-as-normal
1 correction found
In fact, a year later, ChatGPT had apparently only grown from 100M to 200M users, which meant that the curve evidently bent sharply to the right.
This compares two different metrics. The original 100M figure was for monthly active users in January 2023, while the later 200M figure was for weekly active users in August 2024.
Full reasoning
The sentence treats the two milestones as if they were directly comparable measures of ChatGPT's user growth, but they are not.
- The widely cited early 100 million figure referred to monthly active users. Reuters reported in February 2023 that ChatGPT had reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, two months after launch.
- The later 200 million figure referred to weekly active users. OpenAI told Engadget in August 2024 that ChatGPT had 200 million weekly active users, up from 100 million weekly active users in November 2023.
Because monthly active users and weekly active users measure different things, saying ChatGPT had "only grown from 100M to 200M users" is misleading as a factual description of the growth curve. On an apples-to-apples basis, the August 2024 announcement showed a doubling of weekly active users from 100M to 200M, not a simple progression from the earlier 100M monthly-user estimate.
2 sources
- ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base - analyst note
ChatGPT, the popular chatbot from OpenAI, is estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after launch...
- ChatGPT has doubled its weekly active users to 200 million
ChatGPT now has 200 million weekly active users, according to OpenAI. That represents a doubling of the weekly audience of 100 million the company announced last November.