OpenAI's ChatGPT became the fastest app ever to reach one billion monthly users, even as rivals including Anthropic's Claude and Meta AI posted triple-digit annual growth amid growing public unease over artificial intelligence.

Key Highlights

  • ChatGPT reached one billion monthly app users in May, roughly 3.5 years after launch.
  • Claude's monthly usage rose 640% year-on-year, while Meta AI grew 973%, versus 62% for ChatGPT.
  • A BCG poll found 74% of frontline workers regularly use AI, up 23 percentage points year-on-year.
  • The United Nations estimates the global AI market could exceed $4.8 trillion by 2033.

Global usage of artificial intelligence platforms has reached record highs even as public sentiment toward the technology has cooled, with OpenAI's ChatGPT becoming the fastest app in history to reach one billion monthly active users, according to estimates from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

ChatGPT achieved the milestone roughly three and a half years after its November 2022 launch, surpassing the previous record held by Google Maps, which took approximately five years to reach the same level of usage. OpenAI separately said in February that ChatGPT had surpassed 900 million weekly active users across web and mobile platforms, claiming more than six times the monthly visits of the next largest AI platform.

While ChatGPT retains a substantial lead in absolute user numbers, competitors are growing at a far faster rate. According to Sensor Tower, monthly usage of Anthropic's Claude rose 640% year-on-year, while Meta AI grew 973%, compared with 62% growth for ChatGPT over the same period. Other competitors cited include Google's Gemini and ByteDance's Doubao and its overseas variant.

Sensor Tower senior insights analyst Abe Yousef said usage of ChatGPT's competitors has grown on the back of tangible model improvements as well as shifting market sentiment. He pointed to OpenAI's February agreement with the US Department of Defense to deploy its models on classified Pentagon networks as one example where public unease translated into measurable usage shifts, with ChatGPT uninstalls surging roughly 295% day-on-day the following day.

Anthropic's Claude benefited from the shift in sentiment, briefly overtaking ChatGPT at the top of the App Store's US download charts that same weekend after declining involvement in Pentagon-related operations.

Both Anthropic and OpenAI have recently moved toward public listings, with OpenAI submitting an IPO filing this week, days after Anthropic filed its own IPO prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Despite growing public unease, reflected in commencement speech reactions, a letter from Pope Leo warning of AI-driven inequality, and Anthropic's own call for a pause in unmitigated AI development, analysts say broader adoption trends remain intact. Hanno Stegmann of Boston Consulting Group's BCG X unit said the trajectory of AI adoption shows no sign of slowing, even as a generation entering the workforce expresses rational uncertainty about the transition.

A BCG poll of around 12,000 frontline workers released June 3 found that 74% regularly use AI, up 23 percentage points year-on-year, with more than 40% of regular users reporting time savings equivalent to a full workday each week. The United Nations has estimated the global AI market could exceed $4.8 trillion by 2033.