Overview
- Sensor Tower estimates that ChatGPT reached one billion monthly active app users in May 2026, making it the fastest app to hit that mark about 3.5 years after its November 2022 launch.
- OpenAI had reported more than 900 million weekly active users in February, showing rapid growth across web and mobile that Sensor Tower’s monthly estimate builds on.
- Public trust has cooled as surveys show growing worry about AI and Sensor Tower recorded a roughly 295% spike in ChatGPT uninstalls after OpenAI’s February Department of Defense agreement, a shift that gave safety-focused rivals a download boost.
- Rivals are growing faster by percentage even as ChatGPT leads in total users, with Sensor Tower estimating Claude’s monthly usage up 640% and Meta AI up 973% year-over-year.
- The industry is commercializing under greater scrutiny as OpenAI and Anthropic filed IPO paperwork with the SEC, workplace use climbs (BCG found 74% of frontline workers regularly use AI), and the UN projects a multitrillion-dollar market by 2033.