Blasting off like an inaccurate rocket —
Intense demand for AI chatbot breaks records and inspires new subscription plan.

Enlarge / A realistic artist’s depiction of an encounter with ChatGPT Plus.
Benj Edwards / Ars Technica / OpenAI
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that AI bot ChatGPT reached an estimated 100 million active monthly users last month, a mere two months from launch, making it the “fastest-growing consumer application in history,” according to a UBS investment bank research note. In comparison, TikTok took nine months to reach 100 million monthly users, and Instagram about 2.5 years, according to UBS researcher Lloyd Walmsley.
“In 20 years following the Internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app,” Reuters quotes Walmsley as writing in the UBS note.
Reuters says the UBS data comes from analytics firm Similar Web, which states that around 13 million unique visitors used ChatGPT every day in January, doubling the number of users in December.
ChatGPT is a conv