What 700 Million People Taught Us About ChatGPT

Let’s start with this:

ChatGPT now has 700 million weekly users.

That’s 10% of the adult population on Earth.

Sending 2.5 billion messages a day.

Think about that. Now… what are all these people doing with it?

That’s exactly what the researchers at OpenAI, Harvard, and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) just uncovered in one of the most important AI studies of the year:

“How People Use ChatGPT” (Working Paper 34255, Sept 2025).

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w34255/w34255.pdf

At Ingenia, this study gave us a crystal-clear view into where the world is headed.

Let me break it down for you.

First: This Is Bigger Than Work

Everyone assumes ChatGPT is all about work productivity.

But here’s the twist:

In mid-2024, 47% of messages were for work.

By mid-2025, that number dropped to 27%.

So what’s the other 73%?

Life. Curiosity. Creativity. Learning. Emotional processing. Trip planning. Fitness goals. Birthday poems. Business ideas. Relationship advice. Translation help. Cooking.

This isn’t just a tool anymore—it’s a thinking companion.

What People Actually Use It For

The three most popular use cases (covering almost 80% of all usage):

Use Case by % of Messages

Practical Guidance -> 29%

Writing -> 24%

Seeking Information -> 24%

What’s wild is that Writing used to be 36% a year ago—and it’s dropped to 24%.

Meanwhile, Seeking Info almost doubled.

That tells you something big:

People aren’t just asking ChatGPT to do stuff.

They’re using it to understand, reflect, and decide.

The #1 Work Use Case: Writing

This blew my mind:

42% of work messages are writing tasks
But 67% of those are editing, improving, or translating user-written content

People don’t want ChatGPT to write for them—they want it to make their writing better.

If you’re running a business today, that’s the easiest win on the board.

Train your team to delegate writing help to AI and watch your output—and quality—go way up.

Ask vs. Do vs. Express: The New Framework

The researchers came up with a killer way to categorize how people use ChatGPT:

Intent | % of Messages | What It Means

Asking -> 49% -> Looking for guidance, advice, clarity

Doing -> 40% -> Producing something: emails, plans, code

Expressing -> 11% -> Sharing thoughts, venting, reflecting

At work, Doing dominates (56%).

But Asking is growing fast—and those are the messages users rate as most valuable.

So yes, AI helps you do things faster. But even more importantly:

AI helps you think better.

So… Who’s Using ChatGPT?

Everyone. But with a few key insights:

Gender parity is here: Women now slightly outnumber men among active users
Young people dominate: 46% of usage is from users under 26
Use is growing fastest in low/mid-income countries
More education = more work-related usage
Business professionals use ChatGPT mostly for writing
Engineers use it for technical help
Everyone uses it for ideation and clarity

Here’s the Chart You Need to See

The trend is clear: people are learning how to ask better and create smarter:

Here’s what I believe:

Prompting is the new Excel.
If your team doesn’t know how to use AI to think, write, and plan—they’re behind. Training your team on prompting is the new best skill to learn.
Most value today isn’t automation—it’s augmentation.
ChatGPT is a multiplier for smart people doing creative work.
Build with AI in mind—always.
Your content, your UX, your product strategy… assume your customer is already using AI.
Train your people.
You don’t need another AI tool. You need an AI mindset across your org.
Writing is still your biggest edge.
Storytelling, positioning, clarity—it’s the golden skill that AI happens to supercharge.

It’s staggering how fast ChatGPT has grown—but the real unlock isn’t just using it, it’s learning how to prompt it. Mastering prompts is now a must-have skill—for your business, your team, and your daily life.