ChatGPT-maker OpenAI’s weekly active users reportedly topped 400 million this month, a 33 per cent increase from December 2024.

CNBC reported OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap revealed the figure and stated the company also has 2 million paying enterprise customers, almost double the number in September 2024.

The news outlet stated Lightcap credited word of mouth for the increasing popularity of ChatGPT, along with the effect of seeing how useful the AI tools are.

CNBC wrote enterprise adoption of ChatGPT is being driven by employees who use it personally before recommending it to their companies.

Lightcap stated developer traffic doubled over the past six months as they incorporate models into their own applications.

OpenAI is continually evolving the capabilities of ChatGPT in the face of new AI models by start-ups such as China-based DeepSeek, which claims similar results at a fraction of the training costs.  

Lightcap noted DeepSeek shows the progress of AI in a short space of time and how the technology is capturing headlines.

Musk rivalry
The executive told CNBC an ongoing rift with co-founder Elon Musk over OpenAI’s goals is more about the billionaire’s unusual way of doing business.

Musk accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman of abandoning the company’s original mission of developing AI for good in favour of profit, but Lightcap told the news organisation the company tries to be clear on its stance.

The billionaire, his AI company xAI, and investment companies Baron Capital Group and Emmanuel Capital, launched a $97.4 billion offer to buy OpenAI’s non-profit division on 10 February, apparently in a bid to halt its move to becoming a for-profit business.

Musk later offered to retract the bid if OpenAI agreed to halt the shift.