To date, there has been rather scarce information on what people use OpenAI's ChatGPT for. Now, a new paper was published where the authors had access to billions of ChatGPT messages (free, plus and pro users) between May 2024 and June 2025 (Chatterji et al., n.d.). As the dataset is large and recent, we believe that the key insights from this paper are interesting and valuable.
Key Takeaway: ChatGPT's rapid growth reflects its broad appeal, with non-work-related usage dominating, particularly for practical guidance, information-seeking, and writing. Businesses in health, education, and e-commerce can leverage these trends for targeted content strategies.
What is the number of weekly active ChatGPT users?
ChatGPT's weekly active users (WAU) grew from about 100 million early 2024 to more than 700 million WAUs in July 2025.
Who uses ChatGPT (Gender + Age)?
Gender related differences in ChatGPT appear to have narrowed (estimation based on male and female names). Most ChatGPT users are aged between 26 years and 45 years.
Are ChatGPT Prompts work related?
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Non-work related messages | 73% |
| Work-related messages | 27% |
By June 2025, the largest part of ChatGPT messages is not work related (73% non-work-related vs. 27% work related).
What is ChatGPT used for (high-level)?
ChatGPT's non-work related conversations revolve largely around practical guidance, seeking information and writing taking a share of about 80% of all conversations in June 2025.
However, ChatGPT's work related conversations revolve largely around writing and practical guidance taking a share of about 64% of all conversations in June 2025.
What is ChatGPT actually used for (detail)?
Practical guidance, writing and seeking information are the largest usage categories of ChatGPT.
Practical Guidance
People use ChatGPT for:
- Tutoring or teaching (10.2%)
- How-to advice (8.5%)
- Health, fitness or self care (5.7%)
Writing
People use ChatGPT for general writing assistance.
Seeking Information
People use ChatGPT for:
- Finding specific information (18.3%)
- Product discovery/purchasable products (2.1%)
Strategic Recommendations
If you own a company or work in marketing, it's important to focus on the key areas where ChatGPT usage is highest such as health-related queries, product discovery, and educational content. Preparing your content to address these areas can significantly enhance your impact and engagement with your audience. Tailoring your strategies around tutoring, practical advice, and product recommendations will better meet user needs and drive meaningful results.
Sources
- Chatterji, Aaron, Thomas Cunningham, David J Deming, et al. n.d. "How People Use ChatGPT."
Note: For the ease of reading and brevity, explicit citations have been avoided. Most figures and numbers mentioned in this post are taken from and refer to the paper by Chatterji et al.
