What Happened
A report citing an internal OpenAI message says ChatGPT has returned to exceeding 10% monthly growth, according to comments OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared with employees.
The same message said OpenAI is preparing to launch an “updated Chat model” this week. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the report could not be independently verified.
Why It Matters
The biggest signal here isn’t just user growth — it’s what the growth implies:
- ChatGPT is still expanding at scale
Double-digit monthly growth at this size suggests ChatGPT isn’t just “retaining” users — it’s still pulling in new usage at a pace that matters for platform dominance. - Model shipping cadence is accelerating again
An updated chat model landing “this week” points to OpenAI tightening release cycles — crucial when competitors are trying to win share through faster iteration and better product packaging. - Monetization is moving from optional to necessary
OpenAI has said it will begin showing ads in ChatGPT to some U.S. users. That’s a major shift in posture: the company is explicitly looking for new revenue streams to offset the heavy costs of training and operating frontier models.
The Competitive Backdrop
The AI market is no longer just “who has the best model.” It’s also:
- Who wins distribution
- Who wins developers
- Who wins enterprise workflows
- Who can pay for the infrastructure arms race
The report specifically highlights the competitive pressure from other AI labs pushing hard into business adoption and productivity tooling — including tools that execute computer-based tasks for white-collar workflows.
Meanwhile, Google’s Gemini app is also scaling aggressively — a reminder that OpenAI’s lead isn’t guaranteed. This is a multi-front race now: consumer + enterprise + developers.
Coding Is the Next Battleground
Altman also reportedly told employees that Codex (OpenAI’s coding product) grew roughly 50% from a week ago.
That matters because coding is one of the clearest “pay for it” AI use cases:
- Developers adopt quickly
- Teams expand usage naturally
- Businesses can justify spend through productivity ROI
The report notes Codex competes directly with rival coding tools, and OpenAI recently launched a new coding model called GPT-5.3-Codex, signaling the company is treating code as a core wedge product — not a side feature.
Monetization: Ads Are a Line in the Sand
OpenAI has said it will begin showing ads in ChatGPT to some U.S. users.
That move is important for two reasons:
- It validates that subscription alone may not cover the cost curve at global scale.
- It introduces a new long-term question: How does advertising coexist with “trust” in an AI assistant?
If ads expand meaningfully, it could reshape how users (and regulators) think about incentives inside AI products — especially around personalization, targeting, and data usage expectations.
WSA Take
ChatGPT re-accelerating to 10%+ monthly growth is the clearest signal that the AI platform war is still wide open — and OpenAI is pushing back with faster releases, coding momentum, and monetization moves.
The near-term investor question isn’t “is AI big?” — it’s who can scale usage and scale economics without breaking trust or margins. If OpenAI’s next model upgrade lands cleanly and Codex keeps compounding, it strengthens OpenAI’s grip on both consumers and developers — the two channels that tend to define winners.
Disclaimer
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