It’s safe to say that ChatGPT is still the most popular AI chatbot, and it has pretty much been that way since it launched back in November 2022; the alternatives have just been playing catch-up. The most recent model is GPT-5 and, as of July 2025, the chatbot has more than 700 weekly active users.

ChatGPT has been in the public’s hands for nearly three years, but what are people using it for? Well, a recently published report details exactly that, cataloging conversations between November 2022 and July 2025 using a “privacy-preserving automated pipeline,” so don’t worry, all your AI chit-chat hasn’t been published online.

What do people use ChatGPT for?

The sixty-four-page report, titled ‘How People Use ChatGPT‘ comes from the National Bureau of Economic Research, otherwise known as NBER. It is dated September 2025. There’s a lot of detail in there if you want to read the whole thing, but we’re mostly going to focus on the different categories of usage. “Practical Guidance,” “Seeking Information,” and “Writing” account for nearly 80% of all conversations.

NBER also reveals that work-related usage has grown from 53% to 70% since its inception. On a surface level, this makes sense, given the surge of people trying out ChatGPT for the first time back in late 2022/early 2023, who were probably doing it more for the fun of it – just to see what it was capable of.

Interestingly, computer programming accounts for just 4.2% of the share, as does AI image generation. We’d expect coding to be higher, though it’s worth noting that this percentage could be hit due to APIs calling from ChatGPT, as opposed to users having a conversation with the chatbot to generate or debug code. Or we may just be overestimating the number of programmers out there who use ChatGPT as an aid.

Overall, this report is an interesting look into ChatGPT’s user base, so we recommend you browse through it when you have the time.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.