OpenAI has revealed yet another new insight that shows how people use ChatGPT. The report says that most of the conversations are personal rather than professional. Despite Google’s monopoly on search, more people are turning to chatbots for information. Though previous data showed that only 15% of Google users are going to ChatGPT for results, the number is still huge, taking into account Google users.
Key Findings from the Study
According to aNational Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper authored by OpenAI’s Economic Research team and Harvard economist David Deming, 24% of conversations with ChatGPT in July 2025 were for seeking information. That’s up 10% compared to a year earlier.
The paper looked at over 1.5 million conversations from May 2024 to July 2025, analysing usage in a privacy-preserving way. Researchers excluded users under 18, deleted accounts, banned users, and excluded enterprise plans, as well as anyone who opted out of sharing data.
OpenAI reported that 77% of conversations are about information, writing, or practical guidance. However, only 30% of consumer use is work-related, suggesting enterprise adoption of AI is still limited. Non-work-related use has grown from 53% to 70% of all usage.
OpenAI wrote: “Together, these findings show not only who is using AI and what they’re using it for, but also how it is creating real economic value that is increasingly central to people’s work and everyday lives.”
How ChatGPT Is Being Used
- Personal vs Work: Work-related conversations were higher among younger and highly paid professionals, but only 16% of messages from users over 66 were work-related.
- Coding Help Drops: Technical use, such as coding, fell from 12% to 5%, as more developers shifted to APIs and new AI coding agents.
- Viral Trends Matter: Image-generation requests grew only 5% overall, but spiked during the April 2025 Ghibli-style AI art trend on social media.
- Therapy & Advice: Nearly half (49%) of prompts involved asking for advice. Only 11% of chats involved personal reflection or play.
- Global Adoption: Low-income countries are adopting ChatGPT atfour times the rate of high-income nations.
- Gender Gap Shrinks: 52% of users now have typically feminine names, up from 37% in early 2024.
- Young Users Lead: About 46% of messages came from 18-25 year olds who self-reported their age.
The report implies that ChatGPT is not merely a workplace tool. With each day passing, people are turning ChatGPT into a personal assistant, advisor, and source of entertainment. While some experts are cautious about AI’s economic value, OpenAI argues that benefits are already visible in decision-making, productivity, and everyday life.
