OpenAI crossed a significant threshold, with its ChatGPT AI model used by 400 million weekly active users (WAU), or roughly 5% of the global population.

ChatGPT remains the most popular AI model and has the distinction of being the breakthrough product that sparked the AI revolution. In a post on X, COO Brad Lightcap highlighted the company’s latest milestone.

OpenAI has been trying to continue building on its momentum, not an easy task given how many competitors the company is facing. Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, and more have increasingly caught up with OpenAI’s models, offering similar performance as ChatGPT, or even surpassing it.

Nonetheless, as Lightcap’s post shows, OpenAI has one major advantage on its side: brand recognition. Because it was the first to make AI widely available, OpenAI enjoys brand recognition that other companies are still trying to achieve. In turn, that brand recognition puts the company in a position to monetize its AI models more than newcomers to the field.

It remains to be seen if OpenAI will remain the leading AI firm, but it certainly has a lot going for it—despite recent challenges.