OpenAI's Growth Spurt: 400M Users and One Grumpy Ex-Founder

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 20 - The chatbot that took over the world just got bigger. OpenAI revealed it now has 400 million weekly active users, up 33% from December. That's roughly the population of the United States plus Canada - all asking an AI to explain quantum physics or write their wedding toasts.

The company's enterprise business is booming too. Two million paying corporate customers are now on board, double the number from September. Turns out when employees discover they can delegate their PowerPoint struggles to ChatGPT, they're quick to convince the boss it's worth the investment.

Developer adoption has doubled in six months, with the company's advanced "reasoning" model seeing a five-fold increase. Major players like Uber, Morgan Stanley, and T-Mobile are already onboard, suggesting AI might become as essential to business as coffee machines and uncomfortable office chairs.

Meanwhile, competition from Chinese rival DeepSeek has Wall Street nervous. When DeepSeek made headlines in January, Nvidia's stock took such a hit it lost $600 billion in market value - roughly equivalent to losing a Switzerland's worth of money in a day.

Adding to the drama, Elon Musk, OpenAI's co-founder turned critic, is suing the company while simultaneously trying to buy it for $97.4 billion. OpenAI's response? A polite "thanks, but no thanks" wrapped in corporate legalese.

Why this matters:

• The AI race has shifted from "if" to "how fast" - with OpenAI's growth suggesting we're already past the tipping point of mass adoption
• The enterprise surge shows AI is graduating from casual chatbot to essential business tool, following the cloud computing playbook
• While competitors and controversies swirl, OpenAI's user metrics suggest it's too busy growing to notice its ex-founder's elaborate courtship ritual

Read on, my dear:

• CNBC: OpenAI tops 400 million users despite DeepSeek’s emergence