OpenAI Signals: ChatGPT usage shifts from asking to doing
On August 6, 2026, OpenAI published the first country-by-country dataset on how people around the world use ChatGPT, through OpenAI Signals, the public data and research hub run by its Economic Research Team. The dataset covers messages sent from ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro accounts, the group of accounts generally managed by individuals rather than organizations, and it describes usage among what OpenAI says is more than 1 billion people putting ChatGPT to work.
The central finding is a shift from asking to doing. Outside of work, ChatGPT messages break down as 45.1% asking, 22.0% doing, and 32.9% expressing. At work, the mix flips: 32.3% asking, 45.4% doing, and 22.3% expressing. OpenAI says people are more than twice as likely to use ChatGPT to complete a task or create something, such as writing, coding, or analysis, at work than outside of work, and it links the rise in doing to the period following the rollout of ChatGPT Work (the article does not give an exact rollout date).
Adoption is also spreading beyond the early-adopter countries. OpenAI's Q1-to-Q2 2026 comparison of per-capita usage ranking, covering 144 countries, shows Peru, Uruguay, and Costa Rica rising the most in the global rankings, with usage across parts of Latin America, Oceania, and Africa growing faster than in the rest of the world. Adoption kept climbing in North America and Europe too, but OpenAI says the gap between early and later adopters is narrowing.
Multimedia use, meaning ChatGPT messages that generate, analyze, or retrieve images and other non-text content, is the fastest-growing use case OpenAI tracks. It reached 7.8% of messages worldwide, up since the release of ChatGPT Images 2.0 in April 2026, and it exceeds one in ten messages in countries including Brazil and Colombia. The refreshed release covers 126 countries with an eligible Q2 2026 multimedia estimate.
Usage is also broadening by age. Among users who self-report their age, the global share of messages sent by people over 35 rose 5% year over year, and it increased in nearly every country OpenAI tracked. In France and Czechia, that share rose by more than 10 percentage points over the year. Almost three-quarters of European countries saw larger-than-average increases, and six of eight tracked Southeast Asian countries saw the same pattern, though Singapore and some other Southeast Asian countries moved the other way, a divergence OpenAI does not explain. The age trend chart covers 111 countries with complete estimates.
Key facts
- At work, 45.4% of ChatGPT messages are "doing" (completing a task or creating something) versus 22.0% outside work, making people more than twice as likely to use it that way at work.
- Multimedia messages (image generation, analysis, retrieval) reached 7.8% of ChatGPT traffic worldwide, and over one in ten messages in Brazil and Colombia.
- Peru, Uruguay, and Costa Rica rose the most in OpenAI's per-capita ChatGPT adoption rankings from Q1 to Q2 2026, a 144-country comparison.
- Messages from users over 35 rose 5% year over year worldwide, including a jump of more than 10 percentage points in France and Czechia.
- OpenAI Signals now covers more than 1 billion people using ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro accounts.
Why it matters
This is the first time OpenAI has broken ChatGPT usage down by country, and the pattern it shows, a move from asking questions to completing tasks, is the clearest public evidence yet that AI use is shifting from search-like queries toward work output. The same dataset shows that shift is not confined to a handful of rich, early-adopter markets: OpenAI argues that countries in Latin America, Africa, and Oceania are catching up, and that older users are adopting the tool at a faster rate than before.
Who it affects
The data is aimed at policymakers and researchers trying to gauge how AI adoption differs by country, as well as businesses and journalists tracking where and how ChatGPT is used. Within the data itself, the clearest movers are users over 35, whose share of messages is rising in most countries, and users in Peru, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Colombia, which stand out in the country-level breakdowns.
How to use it
OpenAI Signals data is free to view and download from OpenAI's site, along with the methodology behind it. It reflects only ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro accounts, the individually managed tier, not enterprise or API usage.
How solid is it
The figures come entirely from OpenAI's own Economic Research Team analyzing its own product's traffic; there is no independent audit. The article does not state the total number of messages or the sample size behind any of the percentages, and the age-35+ figures cover only users who self-reported their age on the platform, not the full user base.
Risks and caveats
Several gaps are worth flagging: OpenAI gives no exact multimedia-message percentage for Brazil or Colombia, only "more than one in ten"; it does not explain why Singapore and some other Southeast Asian countries saw the opposite pattern in messages from over-35 users; and because the underlying sample size is not disclosed, the precision implied by figures like 45.4% cannot be independently checked.
“AI is no longer just helping people find answers. It is helping more people, in more places, get things done.”
— OpenAI