New research reveals how 700M people use ChatGPT worldwide work vs. personal patterns are shifting fast
A new NBER paper analyzes 18B weekly ChatGPT messages and shows how adoption has evolved since launch:
Key findings:
By July 2025, ~10% of the global adult population was using ChatGPT weekly 700M users sending 2.5B messages per day.
Usage has shifted strongly toward non-work tasks: from 53% in mid-2024 to 73% in mid-2025.
The top use cases are Practical Guidance, Seeking Information, and Writing, together making up nearly 80% of all conversations.
Writing dominates work usage (40% of work-related messages), with most requests focused on editing or improving user-provided text.
Only 4% of messages are programming-related, and less than 2% are about relationships or companionship far smaller shares than public perception.
Demographics: early users skewed male, but gender parity has now been reached.
Nearly half of all usage comes from people under 26, and adoption has surged fastest in low- and middle-income countries.
Generative AI isn’t just a workplace productivity tool.
Most growth is in everyday problem-solving, guidance, and learning.
For knowledge workers, ChatGPT is increasingly a decision-support system helping with information gathering, problem-solving, and written communication, which cuts across almost every professional role.
Source: https://lnkd.in/eH5H5kiF
