ChatGPT Hits 700 Million Weekly Users as OpenAI Accelerates Enterprise AI Push and Revenue Growth

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is now logging 700 million weekly active users, marking a fourfold increase from the same time last year and reflecting the rapid uptake of generative AI tools across sectors. The milestone, announced Monday, includes users across all versions of ChatGPT — free, Plus, Pro, Enterprise, Team, and Edu.

Usage growth has accelerated since March, when the weekly user count stood at 500 million. OpenAI also reported more than 3 billion daily messages being sent through the platform, underscoring continued engagement.

The surge is translating into revenue. OpenAI now has 5 million paying business users, up from 3 million just two months ago, as companies and educators lean more heavily into automation and AI-driven productivity. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has climbed to $13 billion, up from $10 billion in June. The company is on track to cross $20 billion by year-end.

This user growth follows OpenAI’s latest funding round, in which it raised $8.3 billion from Dragoneer Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, and Altimeter Capital. The raise was part of a larger $40 billion round led by SoftBank, reportedly completed ahead of schedule and five times oversubscribed.

The added capital is fueling infrastructure expansion. Through its Stargate joint venture with SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX, OpenAI plans to spend up to $500 billion on AI infrastructure over four years. This includes a $30 billion-per-year lease with Oracle for U.S. data center capacity and a $11.9 billion agreement with CoreWeave. The company is also scaling into Europe via Stargate Norway and working with G42 to build a massive data facility in Abu Dhabi.

Despite its record growth, ChatGPT still trails Google’s AI Overviews, which serve an estimated 2 billion monthly users, according to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Meanwhile, Google’s Gemini app, a direct chatbot competitor, now boasts over 450 million monthly active users.

Competition in the AI space is intensifying. Rival Anthropic is reportedly seeking a new $5 billion round at a $170 billion valuation, up from $61.5 billion earlier this year. The company, which previously avoided Gulf funding, appears to be reconsidering that position. In a leaked memo, CEO Dario Amodei acknowledged that avoiding Middle Eastern capital could hinder Anthropic’s ability to stay competitive at the frontier of AI development.

For OpenAI, the funding windfall and user momentum offer breathing room — but the demands of scale, infrastructure, and global reach mean the pressure isn’t easing anytime soon.

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