OpenAI says ChatGPT now handles search-like queries equal to about 20% of Google's search volume. Adam Fry, ChatGPT's consumer product lead, gave the figure during a fireside chat at an OpenAI-hosted dinner in New York City on Monday night, in an interview published November 3 by Big Technology.
The search number came alongside new usage figures. ChatGPT grew from 1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly active users in 60 days, adding 200 million people. Users now create 1.5 billion images a week, and voice mode, which covers both dictation and speaking with ChatGPT, has 250 million combined weekly active users.
The 20% comparison depends on how OpenAI defines a search. The company counts any query in which ChatGPT goes out to the web, whether the model triggers the search on its own or the user starts it.
“Every time you ask a question and go search the web, that's a search.”— Adam Fry, ChatGPT consumer product lead
Key facts
- 01OpenAI estimates ChatGPT's search-like query volume at about 20% of Google's.
- 02ChatGPT grew from 1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly active users in 60 days.
- 03Users create 1.5 billion images a week, and voice mode has 250 million combined weekly active users.
- 04OpenAI counts any question that triggers a web search as a search, per ChatGPT consumer product lead Adam Fry.
- 05OpenAI plans to merge ChatGPT's Chat and Work modes, removing the current toggle.
Fry described a shift in how people use the product. He said ChatGPT launched without up-to-date information and that its main early uses, about two years ago, were writing and coding help. Questions about finance and health now routinely trigger web searches because users want current, factual answers, and Fry said the category now covers basically anything a user would have traditionally taken to a search engine.
OpenAI's search documentation says ChatGPT searches the web automatically when a question needs current information, and that responses can link back to original sources. In September, OpenAI pointed to people choosing software for their businesses as potential users of ChatGPT's discovery features, with sponsored placements labeled and kept separate from ChatGPT's answers.
For scale, Google holds more than 90% of global search engine market share, excluding AI tools, and Bing's share sits around 5%. Google handles a reported 16 billion searches a day, according to Exploding Topics, which would put ChatGPT at roughly 3.2 billion search-like interactions daily if OpenAI's ratio holds.
The 20% figure is OpenAI's own estimate, not an independent measurement. The most recent public figure for ChatGPT's paying subscribers is 50 million.
Fry also said OpenAI plans to merge ChatGPT's Chat and Work modes into a single experience, which will remove the toggle users switch between today.
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