Comment by autoexec
2 days ago
> . The average consumer is absolutely using ChatGPT for personal use
In my experience the "average consumer" isn't doing anything with ChatGPT except maybe play with it for a little bit before getting bored. They actively avoid AI when the apps and products they use try to shove it down their throats and they search the internet and ask their tech savvy family members for ways to disable AI in their stuff when they see it nag at them about using it.
Inevitably, AI ends up being used by people in some ways (like the AI reply at the top of every google search) but almost never because the average consumer asked for that or wanted it. It's a toy when they want to use it, and annoying when they don't but are forced to.
Eh I definitely agree this archetype is real but I disagree that it’s the one that constitutes the average consumer. My dad is a carpenter and my mom is a nurse. My wife is a hairstylist. None are particularly tech savvy. All three use ChatGPT quite a bit. Stuff they would previously google. How do I make an apple pie? Should I see a doctor? Stuff like that.
As another commenter stated, ChatGPT has over 700 million WAU. There are only 4.4 million SWEs in the US. I think it’s caught on
But they have 700million WAUs?
Yeah, but the report citing that number doesn't make clear how they calculate that. But maybe that's just a failure of my comprehension though I know some people like to spin words. So is 700 million unique users each week? Or is 700 million unique users that were active in A week, but not necessarily the same week, as in a creative way of saying weekly instead of monthly? The report simply states "in September of 2025", but September isn't a week. Or is it not even unique but simply distinct users in a week. Would the same person on Monday and Tuesday be 2? Or even Monday morning and night? Or any different session. The report citing the 700 million specifically seems to leave out word unique which is pretty key to any meaningful statement on visitor usage.
They go a bit more detailed in the end to say 2.5 billion messages a day.