OpenAI reported having 400 million weekly active users as of February 2025, a notable increase from 300 million in December 2024. The company’s chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, shared this information with CNBC as OpenAI seeks to position itself as a leading consumer technology entity.
OpenAI reaches 400 million weekly users amid rising competition
Usage of OpenAI’s platforms continues to grow rapidly, although the company has not disclosed specific numbers for paid subscriptions to ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro. On the enterprise side, OpenAI now has 2 million paying enterprise users, doubling from 1 million since September 2024. Developer traffic for OpenAI’s APIs has also seen significant growth, having doubled in the past six months, with the usage of the company’s reasoning model o3 quintupling.
According to CNBC, Lightcap emphasized a “natural progression” for ChatGPT, noting the importance of word-of-mouth referrals and user familiarity with the product. “People hear about it through word of mouth. They see the utility of it. They see their friends using it,” Lightcap explained, highlighting the organic growth stemming from personal usage leading to enterprise adoption.
OpenAI counts major companies like Uber, Morgan Stanley, Moderna, and T-Mobile among its largest clients. Lightcap compared the current trajectory of OpenAI’s enterprise business to the growth of cloud services pioneered by Amazon Web Services two decades ago. He acknowledged a learning curve in scaling enterprise solutions, stating, “There’s a buying cycle there, and a learning process that goes into scaling an enterprise business.”
Competition from DeepSeek
OpenAI’s impressive growth comes in the wake of new competition from Chinese company DeepSeek, which launched rival AI technologies, impacting market perceptions and valuations of U.S. tech firms. Following DeepSeek’s announcements in January 2025, companies like Nvidia experienced significant losses, with the tech giant seeing a 17% drop in market value, erasing nearly $600 billion.
In response to DeepSeek’s entrance into the market, OpenAI accused the company of improperly using its models via a technique known as distillation. Despite facing this new competition, Lightcap indicated that OpenAI’s strategies regarding open source development and its product roadmap remain unchanged.
OpenAI is also navigating legal challenges, including a lawsuit from co-founder Elon Musk, who claims breach of contract tied to the company’s transition to a for-profit model. Meanwhile, significant investments continue, with Microsoft contributing billions and SoftBank nearing a $40 billion investment that could elevate OpenAI’s valuation to approximately $300 billion.
Earlier this month, Musk and a group of investors submitted a bid of $97.4 billion for the nonprofit assets of OpenAI. However, OpenAI’s board dismissed this claim, asserting that it was not an actual bid. OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor reiterated that the company “is not for sale.”
Lightcap commented on the competitive landscape created by Musk’s actions, noting, “The numbers tell the story. We try to be very transparent about where we stand on all of this. (Musk) is a competitor. He’s competing. It’s an unorthodox way of competing.”
Featured image credit: Zac Wolff/Unsplash
