How ChatGPT adoption broadened in early 2026

According to OpenAI data covering consumer plans in the first quarter of 2026, ChatGPT experienced a broadening surge in adoption across various demographics, age groups, and international markets. While users under the age of 35 continued to account for the largest share of total messages, users over 35 gained a larger share of usage during the period. Additionally, users with typically feminine names represented a growing share after achieving approximate parity in the previous year, accounting for over half of users where gender could be inferred. Regionally, the fastest-rising countries in messages sent per capita came from outside established markets, reflecting broadening adoption patterns across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, and Africa. Within work-related usage on consumer accounts, creators of written and visual materials still led, but their relative share decreased as more specialized tasks gained popularity. The fastest-growing workplace tasks on these consumer plans included content creation, health-related documentation, and information retrieval, pointing to expanding adoption across a wider variety of professions and industries. The analysis excluded Codex and enterprise or education products, potentially understating total workplace usage. OpenAI stated that the Q1 2026 data reflects an AI tool becoming increasingly mainstream, utilized by a more diverse mix of people across more countries for recurring tasks.