OpenAI CEO says ChatGPT growth rebounds to over 10% monthly

ChatGPT is growing like crazy again

Remember when everyone thought chatbots were just a fad? According to an internal message reported by CNBC and Reuters, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said ChatGPT has returned to month-over-month growth above 10 percent. That’s huge for a product that’s already been around for a while.

Think about it like this: most apps peak and then fade away. ChatGPT is doing the opposite. People aren’t just testing it out anymore; they’re coming back day after day. Homework help, work emails, settling bar bets, we just can’t seem to quit this thing.

A new ChatGPT model drops this week

OpenAI signaled an updated chat model rolling out this week while deprecating older models, including GPT-4o on February 13, 2026, according to company posts and reporting. Word is that it could replace GPT-4o, which fans are heartbroken to lose.

Why swap it out? GPT-4o is known for being conversational and emotionally smart. People actually liked talking to it. The new model aims to keep that magic alive while making everything faster and sharper. Think of it like trading an old car for one with heated seats and better mileage.

Codex is on absolute fire right now

Altman described a sharp surge in usage for OpenAI’s coding tool Codex and reporting from the company indicated weekly usage jumped about 50 percent in a recent week. That’s not a misprint.

The reason? OpenAI just dropped GPT-5.3-Codex, a model built specifically for programmers who want AI to write and fix code. It’s like having a super-smart intern who never sleeps and doesn’t steal your snacks.

Super Bowl ads got weirdly competitive

If you watched the Super Bowl, you noticed something strange: AI companies buying ad space and throwing serious shade. Anthropic ran a spot making fun of OpenAI for planning to put ads in ChatGPT. Their tagline? Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude. Ouch.

OpenAI fired back with a heartfelt one-minute ad about a man building his dreams using Codex. CEO Sam Altman even posted on X, saying the Anthropic ad was funny but “clearly dishonest.” The AI wars are officially prime-time entertainment now.

OpenAI just teamed up with the Pentagon

This one surprised a lot of people. OpenAI is now bringing a custom version of ChatGPT to the Pentagon’s new AI platform. They’re joining Google and xAI in working with the Department of Defense on unclassified projects.

The company says people defending the country should have access to the best tools. But here’s the twist: rival Anthropic reportedly clashed with the Pentagon over rules about surveillance and autonomous weapons. OpenAI insists its models have safety guards built in.

Money is pouring in, but so is the burn rate

OpenAI is making around $12 billion a year now. That’s wild growth from just $3.4 billion last year. Most of that comes from people like you paying for ChatGPT subscriptions.

But here’s the kicker, they’re still losing money. Like, a lot of it. Building new models costs billions, especially before a big launch. One estimate says they burned $5 billion in just four months before GPT-5. So yes, they’re making bank. They’re just spending even faster.

They’re trying to raise $100 billion

You read that right. OpenAI is in talks to raise nearly $100 billion in funding. To put that in perspective, that’s more money than some countries’ entire economies. Investors like SoftBank are already in, with Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon circling.

Why so much cash? Staying ahead in AI is stupid expensive. You need chips, supercomputers, and the world’s smartest engineers. One finance professor said this could be bigger than the Saudi Aramco IPO. We’re not in startup territory anymore; this is full-on empire building.

Remember the code red? It worked

Back in December, Altman declared a code red. He told everyone to drop side projects and focus 100 percent on making ChatGPT better. No distractions. No excuses. That push led to GPT-5.2, new healthcare tools, and the ability to tweak ChatGPT’s personality.

Now, with growth back above 10 percent, the panic paid off. Was it stressful? Absolutely. Did it work? The numbers don’t lie. Sometimes a little healthy fear is exactly what a company needs to get back on track.

Fans are furious about losing GPT-4o

Not everyone is celebrating. OpenAI announced it’s sunsetting GPT-4o on February 13, and loyal users are not happy. Many say this version felt more human, more patient, and just nicer to talk to.

It’s like when your favorite coffee shop discontinues your go-to drink. Sure, the new one might be better on paper, but you loved the old one. OpenAI is hoping its new chat model wins back the skeptics. But right now, the comment sections are full of digital pitchforks and sad-face emojis.

800 million people use ChatGPT weekly

Let that number sink in. Eight hundred million. Every. Single. Week. That’s more than the entire population of Europe, tuning in to chat with an AI. For context, Google’s Gemini app has around 750 million monthly users.

So OpenAI isn’t just surviving, it’s leading the pack. People use it for work, school, or just to mess around. ChatGPT has officially become part of everyday life. It’s no longer a toy or experiment. It’s a utility, like your email or messaging apps.

Ads are coming, like it or not

OpenAI has begun testing ads in ChatGPT for logged in adult users on its free and Go tiers in the U.S.; OpenAI said the ads will be clearly labeled and confined to those plans while paid tiers remain ad free.

This is a big shift for a company that started as a nonprofit research lab. But with costs spiraling, they need to pay the bills somehow. Will users stick around if their chatbot starts pitching products? That’s the billion-dollar question nobody can answer yet.

Google and Amazon are backing different horses

Large tech companies have different commercial relationships in the space: Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI and integrates its models into products, Amazon has deep commercial ties with Anthropic, and Google continues to develop its own Gemini models.

So when you see OpenAI and Anthropic battling over coding tools or Pentagon contracts, remember there are trillion-dollar companies pulling strings behind the scenes. Microsoft needs OpenAI to win. Amazon needs Anthropic to shine.

Want a closer look at how OpenAI is sharpening its edge? Check out how it’s introducing age prediction tech to ChatGPT.

Anthropic isn’t going away quietly

Speaking of Anthropic, they’re not sitting back. Their coding tool, Claude Code, is gaining traction fast, and their Claude Cowork product handles boring office tasks so humans don’t have to. They’re also playing the moral high card, publicly clashing with the Pentagon over surveillance rules.

Their Super Bowl ad mocked OpenAI’s ad plans without even mentioning them by name. Love ’em or hate ’em, they know how to get attention. OpenAI may have the numbers, but Anthropic has the attitude. And in tech, that counts for a lot.

And if you think the rivalry stops there, wait until you see how the OpenAI and Elon Musk clash just got bigger.

Which chatbot do you use most, ChatGPT, Claude, or something else? Drop your take in the comments and tap that like button before you go.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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