ChatGPT's expanding world of work: OpenAI Signals data on 165 work activities is out!
Hi everyone, Shii-chan here! Today's news is a data release about how people use ChatGPT for work!
OpenAI News
openai.com
What was announced?
According to OpenAI News, OpenAI released OpenAI Signals data that explores 165 work activities across nearly 100 countries, showing how consumers use ChatGPT for work. It gives researchers a new way to study AI's role in the economy.
Why it matters
It has been hard to compare how AI is used at work across countries and over time with one common yardstick. This data is tied to a widely used framework for categorizing work, so it is easier to match with other economic indicators.
What changes
Researchers can now:
- Explore how ChatGPT use for work differs across countries
- Track changes over time
- Match this data to other economic indicators
Dive Deep
What the data contains
- It draws on O*NET and connects ChatGPT usage to 165 Intermediate Work Activities (IWAs)
- It is quarterly, from Q1 2025 through Q3 2026
- Example activities include preparing instructional materials, developing marketing content, programming, and analyzing business data
- It covers work-related messages on individual ChatGPT plans, and does not include enterprise messages or Codex use
What it shows
Work-related use became less concentrated in the most common activities. Across 74 countries observed in every quarter, the ten most common activities made up an average of 51.1% of each country's classified work messages in Q3 2026, down from 56.0% in Q1 2025. Countries tended to specialize over time, and the post notes that differences might reflect the kind of work done or varying access to AI tools.
Comparison with U.S. jobs
The distribution of ChatGPT use differs substantially from the activities performed across U.S. jobs. Largely this is because about 43% of the employment-weighted task mix for mapped U.S. occupations falls into Other IWAs, such as moving materials, operating vehicles, and maintaining health or medical records.
Privacy
- Researchers do not read individual conversations
- Automated systems classify messages after identifying information is removed
- Only aggregated statistics are published, results for small groups are withheld, and statistical noise is added
Wrap-up
- Data on ChatGPT work use across 165 activities and nearly 100 countries is out
- It is quarterly from Q1 2025 to Q3 2026, using an O*NET-based classification
- In 74 countries, the top-ten share fell from 56.0% to 51.1%
- It covers individual plans and includes privacy protections
This is for anyone researching AI and work, or who just likes exploring data!
