Observed Signal · Apr 16, 2026 · Usage Report · Source: onlinemarketing.de · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
ChatGPT Gender Gap Disappears; Female Users Majority
OpenAI data show that the strong male skew among early ChatGPT users has disappeared. Name-based, anonymized signals indicated roughly 83% typically male first names in January 2023; by January 2024 the gap narrowed to about a 16 percentage-point difference (≈58% male). In January 2026 OpenAI reports that users with typically female first names made up about 51% versus roughly 49% male. ChatGPT now reaches over 900 million users per week and is used across many use cases from research to coding and health conversations. OpenAI highlighted these changes publicly (OpenAI Newsroom tweet, April 15, 2026). The company also offers a ChatGPT Pro subscription (listed at €103/month) with feature previews and higher usage limits. OpenAI’s gender assignment is caveated as inferred from first names and does not include non-binary classifications.
The shift indicates ChatGPT’s user base has broadened and now reaches a large, more diverse audience (900M weekly users). That expanded reach and demographic change can affect audience planning, targeting, measurement and product strategy for advertisers and platforms, but it is not an immediate industry structural change.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- OpenAI’s anonymized name-based data showed ~83% typically male first names among ChatGPT users in January 2023.
- By January 2024 male-named users were ~58% and female-named users ~42% (≈16 percentage-point gap).
- In January 2026 users with typically female first names comprised about 51%, male about 49%.
- ChatGPT reaches over 900 million users per week according to the article.
- OpenAI offers a ChatGPT Pro subscription priced at €103 per month with exclusive feature previews and higher usage limits.
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Related Market Signals & Shifts
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OpenAI: ChatGPT Usage Deepens and Globalizes
OpenAI published OpenAI Signals data showing ChatGPT usage has both deepened and expanded globally. Users become more active and experiment with more capabilities over time—six months after signup they send 50% more messages per day and have doubled the number of distinct tasks tried. Adoption rose across all continents since July 2023, with the fastest relative growth in Africa and Asia and especially in lower‑HDI countries. Non‑English users now make up over half of active users, led by Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic, and usage by people with typically‑feminine names now represents a majority globally. The analysis is based on a 0.1% user sample (accounts created between 2025‑10‑15 and 2026‑05‑01) with activity through 2026‑05‑31.
ChatGPT Falls Below 50% Market Share
Sensor Tower's "State of AI 2026" report shows ChatGPT's share of global chatbot usage declining: after peaking above 80% in early 2024 and holding 60.1% in January 2025, ChatGPT had 46.6% market share in May 2026. Google’s Gemini reached 27.7% in May 2026, while Anthropic’s Claude rose from under 3% in January 2025 to over 10% by May 2026. Sensor Tower attributes the shifts to users increasingly switching between AI chatbots, company decisions (including controversy around OpenAI’s government deal that coincided with a spike in ChatGPT uninstallations), and intensified marketing: global time spent with AI tools is projected to exceed 36 billion hours in H1 2026 versus 17.2 billion hours in H1 2025, and US advertising budgets for AI have roughly tripled.
ChatGPT Surges to 900M Users Amid Massive Funding Boost
OpenAI announced that ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly active users and now counts 50 million paying subscribers. The new figure is a 100 million-user increase from the 800 million reported in October 2025. OpenAI also disclosed it has raised $110 billion in private funding in a round that includes a $50 billion investment from Amazon and $30 billion each from Nvidia and SoftBank, valuing the company at a $730 billion pre-money valuation. The funding round remains open, and OpenAI said subscriber growth accelerated in January and February, driving product improvements in speed, reliability, and safety.
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