OpenAI's Signals Data: How the World Is Actually Using ChatGPT

OpenAI has published a new “Signals” report analyzing how people around the world actually use ChatGPT, drawing on data from more than 1 billion users across Free, Go, Plus, and Pro individual accounts. The headline finding: usage is shifting from asking questions to getting things done, and that shift looks different depending on where — and how old — the user is.

Details

• Work usage is about “doing,” not asking: People are more than twice as likely to use ChatGPT to complete a task when working versus when they’re not. Work-related usage skews toward producing outputs — coding, editing, analysis — while non-work usage stays largely exploratory and information-seeking
• Global adoption is broadening: OpenAI tracked messages-per-capita rankings across 144 countries, comparing Q1 2026 to Q2 2026. Latin America, Oceania, and Africa grew faster than other regions, with Peru, Uruguay, and Costa Rica posting the largest ranking improvements
• Multimedia messages are surging: Multimedia now accounts for 7.8% of global messages as of Q2 2026, with growth accelerating after the April 2026 release of ChatGPT Images 2.0. Brazil and Colombia both passed the one-in-ten mark for multimedia messages, based on 126 countries with eligible multimedia estimates
• Older users are catching up: Users over 35 increased their share of messages by 5% year-over-year, rising in nearly every one of the 111 countries with complete self-reported age data. France and Czechia each saw increases of more than 10 percentage points, and nearly three-quarters of European countries grew faster than the global average

What happened next

OpenAI frames the report as part of an ongoing “Signals” series tracking how ChatGPT usage evolves globally, rather than a one-off snapshot. The country-level breakdowns suggest OpenAI is paying close attention to where growth is coming from next — particularly Latin America and Africa — as it shapes product and pricing decisions outside its largest existing markets. The full dataset and methodology are available on OpenAI’s blog at https://openai.com/index/how-the-world-is-putting-chatgpt-to-work.