OpenAI revealed what millions of people are actually asking ChatGPT

OpenAI has released its first detailed public study on who uses its chatbot and what it is most often asked to do.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has published its first comprehensive study on what users do with the popular chatbot and who these users are. The study provides an unprecedented look at how people use the artificial intelligence tool and what they discuss with it.

Most ChatGPT users are women, and most queries are not work-related. The core audience consists of young people—nearly half of the analyzed conversations belong to individuals aged 18 to 25.

OpenAI published the data in the form of a 62-page scientific paper, which has not yet undergone peer review. The study is based on chat logs from 1.5 million ChatGPT users over the period from May 2024 to June 2025. 

Who uses ChatGPT

When ChatGPT first began gaining popularity in late 2022 and early 2023, about 80% of users had male names. By June 2025, the situation had changed: 52% of users had female names.

User growth is faster in poorer countries than in richer ones. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT now has more than 700 million weekly users.

What people use ChatGPT for

The study showed that people increasingly use ChatGPT in their personal lives rather than for work.

In June 2024, queries were almost evenly split between work and personal use. By June 2025, personal queries accounted for 73% of all conversations.

OpenAI classified more than a million chats during this period into seven categories.

The largest category is "practical advice": this includes requests for instructions, help with studying, and fitness tips.

The second most popular category is requests for help with writing text.

About 4.2% of chats were related to programming.

The third most popular category is "information search," which researchers described as "a very close substitute for web search."

From May to June 2024, this type of usage grew steadily, and by the end of June it became the second most popular among consumers.

This confirms that ChatGPT can change the internet economy, traditionally built around search engines like Google.

The "information search" category also includes product-related queries—a potential revenue source for OpenAI through advertising or partnerships with retailers.

Personal advice and "AI girlfriends"

1.9% of conversations concerned relationship advice, feelings, or personal reflections.

Researchers described this scenario as "rather small" and noted that it is smaller than in other studies that cite therapy as one of the key areas of application for AI chatbots.

The study states that 0.4% of conversations were related to "games and role-playing scenarios," including those where users addressed the chatbot as an "AI girlfriend."

OpenAI is developing parental controls that will allow parents to receive notifications about how their children use the chatbot.

How the data was collected

The company used its own AI technologies to analyze chats, enabling them to determine the content without human researchers and without violating privacy.

Demographic data was taken from information provided by users during registration.

Source: washingtonpost