How ChatGPT Is Changing the Economy: The First Analysis from OpenAI
Imagine a technology that can speed up your work, help you learn new things faster, and open the door to new opportunities. That is exactly what ChatGPT from OpenAI does. In July 2025, OpenAI released its first economic analysis focusing on how this tool increases the productivity of people and businesses. According to the analysis, more than half a billion people worldwide use ChatGPT, including 500 million active users. More than 2.5 billion messages are sent on the platform every day, over 330 million of them in the US. This widespread use suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) could be the key to economic growth, just as the wheel, the engine, and electricity once were.
Rapid Adoption and the Reasons Behind It
ChatGPT has become the fastest-adopted consumer technology in history. It reached one million users in five days, 100 million in two months, and today has more than 500 million users. In the US, 28% of employed adults who have used ChatGPT report that they also use it at work—up from just 8% in 2023. Why has adoption been so rapid? The analysis identifies three main reasons: easy access, because people intuitively understand how to interact with a blank prompt field; a low barrier to entry thanks to the free version, which allows users to experiment and scale; and a wide range of uses, from games and cooking to data analysis. For example, in the US, learning and skill development account for 20% of all messages, writing and communication for 18%, and programming, data science, and mathematics for 7%.
Users in the US are predominantly younger—24% are aged 18–24 and 32% are aged 25–34. This means that many students and young workers are becoming "AI natives" who will carry this technology into their careers for many years to come. Rapid user growth is also evident geographically: states such as California, New York, and Texas show the fastest quarterly increases.
Impact on Individual Sectors
The analysis describes in detail how ChatGPT increases productivity across various fields. In legal services, OpenAI's o1 model increased lawyers' productivity by 34% to 140% across six types of tasks, such as persuasive writing and legal analysis. The quality of work also improved, particularly for more complex tasks.
In customer support, a study showed that call center agents using an OpenAI model were 14% more productive when responding to customer inquiries. Less experienced workers saw the greatest gains. Similarly, content creators saved more than 11 hours per week on marketing materials.
In consulting services, an experiment with GPT-4 showed that consultants completed tasks 25% faster, handled 12% more tasks, and produced work of 40% higher quality. AI particularly helped lower-performing consultants, whose productivity increased by 43%, compared with 17% among higher-performing consultants.
In government services, a year-long pilot program in Pennsylvania showed that workers using ChatGPT saved an average of 95 minutes per day on tasks such as writing, research, and IT support. That is equivalent to one extra eight-hour workday per week.
In education, a July 2025 study of more than 2,200 K-12 teachers in the US showed that AI saved teachers nearly six hours per week on lesson planning, providing feedback, and adapting materials. That is equivalent to nearly six extra weeks of teaching per school year, which teachers can devote to direct interaction with students.
Supporting Entrepreneurship and New Opportunities
According to Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, now is the best time to start a company since the advent of the internet, because AI lowers startup costs and enables rapid scaling. At Y Combinator, the Winter 2025 cohort of companies grew by 10% per week, partly thanks to "AI-first" startups. Approximately 40% of small businesses in the US use AI for inventory management, marketing, or customer support. Small businesses account for nearly 46% of private-sector employment in the US, making their growth crucial.
AI is also creating entirely new types of work and industries. By some estimates, most of today's occupations did not exist before 1940, and AI may accelerate this trend.
Next Steps
This analysis, authored by Ronnie Chatterji, OpenAI's chief economist, shows that ChatGPT is already significantly increasing productivity and supporting innovation. OpenAI has also announced a new 12-month collaboration with Jason Furman of Harvard University and Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute and Georgetown University. Together, they will study AI's impact on productivity and the labor market, develop metrics, and organize workshops at the new OpenAI Workshop in Washington, DC.
The goal is to ensure that the benefits of AI are available to everyone—from scientists and small business owners to teachers. As Ronnie Chatterji says, AI can bring more meaningful work, faster progress, and shared prosperity, but only if we work together to deploy it properly.
