On February 20, OpenAI's ChatGPT developer revealed to Reuters that their weekly active users had surpassed 400 million, showcasing a substantial increase in artificial intelligence tool adoption. Initially having 300 million weekly active users in December, the Microsoft-backed startup also saw their paying business users exceed 2 million in February, more than doubling the count from September.

Recent advancements in the AI sector have seen China's DeepSeek introduce a competitive AI model claiming to rival or even surpass Western counterparts at a reduced cost, sparking concerns regarding U.S. dominance in generative AI technology. Questions have emerged regarding DeepSeek's access to Nvidia's H800 chips for training AI models, as their export to China had been restricted by Washington. Despite this, DeepSeek has experienced a surge in demand.

OpenAI noted a significant uptick, with a twofold increase in developer traffic for its reasoning models in the past six months and a fivefold surge for its o3 model since its launch in late January.

Earlier in the day, CNBC had initially reported the news about OpenAI's weekly user growth.