ChatGPT Graduates From 'Asking': People Are 2x More Likely to 'Do' Things at Work

Hi everyone, it's Shiichan! Today I found a story that shows, country by country, how people around the world are actually using ChatGPT. I love this kind of "here's what's really happening" data!

OpenAI News openai.com

What was announced?

OpenAI's News reports that OpenAI has published country-by-country data on ChatGPT usage for the first time. The data is available to view and download on OpenAI Signals, the hub where OpenAI's Economic Research team shares data, research, and analysis.

The Signals dataset specifically reflects messages sent within ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro accounts—the accounts generally managed by individuals rather than organizations. It's worth noting that business-managed accounts aren't included here.

Why it matters

ChatGPT is said to have more than 1 billion users, but solid country- and region-level numbers on how it's actually used have been hard to come by. Data like this gives policymakers and researchers real material to understand how AI is being used in practice, which is exactly why OpenAI is calling it out as its own release.

What changes

Four main findings stand out from the data.

• From asking to doing: at work, people are more than twice as likely to use ChatGPT to complete a task or create something, like editing, coding, or analysis, than they are outside of work. Outside work, "asking"—seeking information and clarification—remains the largest category
• The adoption gap is closing: countries across Latin America, Africa, and Oceania are catching up to early adopters, narrowing the global usage gap
• AI is moving beyond text: multimedia (generating, analyzing, and retrieving images and more) is the fastest-growing use case globally, now accounting for 7.8% of messages
• AI is reaching beyond early adopters: usage among people over 35 is rising in nearly every country, with France and Czechia seeing their share of messages jump by more than 10 percentage points in the past year

Dive Deep

Let's look at the specific numbers.

On the work side, the article notes that professional use of ChatGPT has grown especially since the rollout of ChatGPT Work, with "doing"—editing, coding, analysis—concentrated in work settings specifically.

On the adoption gap, OpenAI updated its per-capita usage rankings for Q2 2026 and shows how ranks shifted from Q1. Peru, Uruguay, and Costa Rica rose the most among countries in the global rankings. North America and Europe kept climbing too, but parts of the Southern Hemisphere are catching up to that pace. This ranking comparison covers 144 countries.

For multimedia, the global share of messages rose to 7.8% since the release of ChatGPT Images 2.0 in April 2026. It still trails the leading use cases of practical guidance, writing, and information-seeking, but it has been on a consistent upswing year-to-date. Latin America stands out in particular: in countries like Brazil and Colombia, more than one in ten messages is now categorized as multimedia. This analysis covers 126 countries with eligible Q2 data.

For the 35-and-older cohort, the analysis only covers users who self-reported their age, and shows their share of messages is now 5 percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier. France and Czechia stand out with gains of more than 10 percentage points, and almost three-quarters of European countries saw larger-than-average increases. Meanwhile, some Southeast Asian countries, like Singapore, saw the opposite pattern—though 6 of 8 countries in the region still saw a (smaller) increase in this group's share.

Beyond this individual-usage analysis, OpenAI Signals also regularly publishes data on business (B2B) usage trends. The raw data is downloadable, and documentation on the methodology is available too, so anyone curious can dig into the source numbers themselves.

Wrap-up

• OpenAI published country-by-country ChatGPT usage data for the first time, covering individual Free, Go, Plus, and Pro accounts
• At work, "doing" (editing, coding, analysis) is more than 2x more common than outside work, where "asking" remains the top category
• Latin America, Africa, and Oceania are catching up to early adopters, with Peru, Uruguay, and Costa Rica rising the most in Q2 rankings
• Multimedia use reached 7.8% of messages globally, topping 10% in Brazil and Colombia
• Usage among people 35 and older grew in nearly every country, up more than 10 percentage points in France and Czechia over the past year

This is great data for anyone who wants numbers behind the sense that AI is shifting from "just answering questions" to "actually getting things done."