SAN FRANCISCO: AI startup OpenAI announced that its chatbot ChatGPT now has over 200 million weekly active users, double the number it had in the last fall season. ChatGPT, launched in 2022, generates human-like responses from user prompts and had reached 100 million weekly active users by November, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The company also revealed that 92% of Fortune 500 companies are now utilizing its products. Additionally, the usage of its automated Application Programming Interface (API), which facilitates communication between software programs, has doubled since the introduction of the cost-efficient GPT-4o mini in July. This smaller AI model aims to make the technology more affordable and energy-efficient, expanding OpenAI’s customer base.
ChatGPT’s success has significantly boosted AI’s popularity and contributed to the skyrocketing valuation of San Francisco-based OpenAI. In other developments, both OpenAI and Anthropic have signed agreements with the U.S. government for research, testing, and evaluation of their AI models, as confirmed by the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.
Meanwhile, media reports suggest that Apple and Nvidia are in discussions to invest in OpenAI as part of a new fundraising round that could value the company at over $100 billion. OpenAI’s long-time backer, Microsoft, is also expected to participate in the investment, according to the reports.
