10 per cent of the world now uses ChatGPT, claims Sam Altman

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has disclosed that the platform doubled its user base in just a few weeks. He made this revelation in a conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson.

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While reports suggest that ChatGPT may have around 800 million users as of now, Altman was reported as saying by Forbes, “Something like 10 per cent of the world uses our systems, now a lot. It’s growing really fast.”

Soaring user base

OpenAI’s user base has been surging since the last few months, particularly, since the end of last year. As of December 2024, the AI platform had reported around 300 million ChatGPT weekly active users. OpenAI’s numbers shot up – likely “doubled” – when ChatGPT recently introduced a feature that allows for image generation from real photos in styles which include the Japanese film animation company Studio Ghibli. The feature has become a worldwide trending hit.

Earlier this month, OpenAI’s chief operating officer (COO) Brad Lightcap shared that in a week of launching the feature, 130 million users generated over 700 million images on ChatGPT. It has been a “very crazy first week for images in ChatGPT”, he had said. Lightcap also revealed that India is their fastest growing ChatGPT market. “The range of visual creativity has been extremely inspiring,” he noted.

OpenAI’s image generation tool gives GPT-4o users the benefit of creating an image straight from the chatbot. It is the default image generator for the GPT-4o model. Earlier, users had to use Dall-e or Sora to do that. As the image generating tool launched, users around the world figured out that the tool is good for many things, but it’s especially good at mimicking the Studio Ghibli-like art style. For a week or so, users around the world were using their images and turning them into a #ghiblistyle art.

Compensating artists

While users quite enjoyed the trend, many also raised concerns about copyright and the implications of AI replicating intricate art within seconds.

Also read: Eight free AI tools to create Studio Ghibli-style images easily

However, in his conversation with Anderson, Altman also spoke about compensating artists when AI mimics their work. He said that, at some point in the future, AI models will be able to automatically send payments to the rightful owner of an artwork when the model uses their work as part of its response to a prompt. “For now the company has implemented guardrails to ensure the AI chatbot does not generate copyright-protected content,” he added.