Neither Instagram nor TikTok: ChatGPT is already the fastest growing platform in the entire history of the internet

ChatGPT is the latest massive internet phenomenon. The artificial intelligence conversational engine created by OpenAI has become the fastest growing Internet platform in history. How fast? Much

100 million in two months. This is the number of monthly active users in January that, according to a study by the consulting firm UBS, ChatGPT has had after only two months available. This study is based on data from the web analytics company Similarweb, which also estimates that on average there have been 13 million ChatGPT users every day in January 2023, more than double the number in December 2022.

TikTok took much longer. The social platform that also skyrocketed in adoption did so at a pace that seems much slower by comparison. It took TikTok nine months to reach 100 million users. Instagram, attention, it took almost two and a half years and Facebook didn’t get it until it was four and a half years old.

To infinity and beyond. The meteoric growth of this service makes clear the interest of users to take advantage of a technology that with its lights and shadows promises a revolution in various sectors. The impact of ChatGPT has been felt in all sectors, and giants like Microsoft —with its multimillion-dollar investment— or Google —which is looking for its own alternative— have already reacted.

If it works, make it paid. That growth probably has a lot to do with OpenAI’s decision to release — as expected — the ChatGPT Plus variant, which will impose a $20/month subscription and allow for faster response speeds and early improvements.

we will have to monetize it somehow at some point; the computed costs are eye-watering

—Sam Altman (@sama) December 5, 2022

Open bar (for now). Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, already commented a few weeks ago that each query cost a few cents and that for now this company was assuming the cost, but that there would come a time when they would have to monetize the service. With 100 million active users per month, those costs will skyrocket, so it is normal for the payment plan to appear. Of course: the current service will continue to be free and open, and OpenAI wants to keep it that way.

Image: Javier Lacort from Wikimedia Commons/Datawrapper/Supershots