Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving from a tool primarily focused on answering queries to establishing itself as a working instrument, according to new data provided by OpenAI regarding the use of ChatGPT in various nations.
For the first time, the company has made available information segmented by country, detailing how individuals in different parts of the globe utilize the chatbot. The findings demonstrate that the technology has surpassed the mere function of providing answers, being applied in task execution, content production, and analysis.
In a professional context, users are more than twice as likely to use ChatGPT to accomplish a task or generate something compared to its use outside the workplace. Among the cited applications are text elaboration, programming development, and conducting analyses.
The data also signals a growing globalization of AI adoption, as nations in Latin America, Africa, and Oceania are approaching the pioneers in technology use, which contributes to reducing disparities in adoption rates.
An additional highlight is the increase in multimedia use, which currently constitutes the fastest-growing use case globally. This category represents 7.8% of worldwide messages and exceeds one in ten messages in countries like Brazil and Colombia.
Adoption penetration is also occurring among population groups that were not part of the technology's early users. Growth was observed in the use of ChatGPT by people over 35 years old in practically all analyzed countries. Specifically in France and the Czech Republic, the participation of this segment in messages increased by more than ten percentage points in the last year.
In summary, the data converges on a change in the profile of AI usage: ChatGPT is not just for assisting in finding answers, but also for supporting task execution in various places around the planet.
This new data is accessible in OpenAI Signals, which functions as a data center, research, and analysis hub for the OpenAI Economic Research team. Country-specific statistics were created to help researchers, policymakers, and other interested parties understand how over one billion users are employing ChatGPT to fulfill their obligations.
The Signals dataset specifically focuses on messages sent by ChatGPT Free, ChatGPT Go, ChatGPT Plus, and ChatGPT Pro accounts—categories typically linked to individual accounts, not corporations.
The dissemination of ChatGPT also shows greater uniformity around the world. According to OpenAI, countries and regions that began their AI adoption journey with lower per capita rates are progressively catching up to those who were the first to implement the technology on a large scale.
In the second quarter of 2026, the company's team updated the ranking of ChatGPT usage among different countries. The comparison allows visualization of how the per capita ranking has changed compared to the first quarter of the same year.
During the second quarter, sectors in Latin America, Oceania, and Africa registered faster advances than other areas. Among the countries that progressed the most in the global ranking are Peru, Uruguay, and Costa Rica.
Although adoption remains high in North America and Europe, parts of the Southern Hemisphere are narrowing the gap in per capita adoption rates. This movement suggests that the use of ChatGPT is becoming less concentrated in initial markets and is expanding to other regions.
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The expansion of new functionalities also influences how people use ChatGPT. Among the use cases gaining relevance are the generation, analysis, and retrieval of multimedia content.
Since the launch of ChatGPT Images 2.0 in April 2026, the participation of multimedia-related messages has increased, reaching 7.8% of the global total. Although it still ranks behind other categories, such as practical guidance, writing, and information retrieval, the use of multimedia resources maintains a continuous growth trajectory since the beginning of the year.
This evolution indicates that the use of ChatGPT is extending beyond interactions based solely on text. A more detailed analysis of messages classified as multimedia reveals significant distinctions between countries and regions. Latin America stands out in this type of application. In countries like Brazil and Colombia, more than one in ten messages sent to ChatGPT is categorized as multimedia.
This result positions both countries above the global average of 7.8%, demonstrating how the creation and analysis of media content are gaining ground among Latin American users.
Changes in ChatGPT acceptance are also visible when users are examined by age groups. The trend observed over the last year shows that the percentage of messages sent by individuals over 35 years old has grown in almost all countries. In the annual comparison, users in this age group represented a participation in messages 5% higher than twelve months prior.
In certain nations, the growth was even more pronounced. In France and the Czech Republic, the participation of messages sent by users aged 35 or older increased by more than ten percentage points during the one-year period. Almost three-quarters of European countries recorded above-average increases in message participation from this group.
However, the behavior was not homogeneous across all areas. Some Southeast Asian countries, such as Singapore, showed the inverse pattern. Nevertheless, in the region as a whole, the participation of messages sent by users aged 35 or older grew in six of the eight countries assessed, albeit modestly.
Therefore, the data points to an expansion of ChatGPT on two simultaneous fronts: geographical, with countries that previously had lower adoption rates approaching the pioneers, and demographic, with older people increasing their participation in the tool's use. This configures a scenario where AI ceases to be exclusive to early adopters and begins to integrate into increasingly diverse activities, in more countries, and for broader audiences.
