ChatGPT, OpenAI's text-generating AI chatbot, has continued its meteoric rise in 2025, surpassing 800 million weekly active users by October and generating over $3 billion in mobile app revenue faster than TikTok. The year was marked by a flurry of product updates, strategic pivots, and mounting legal and competitive pressures.
Major Model Releases and Feature Updates
OpenAI launched several new models in 2025, starting with the o3-mini reasoning model in January, followed by the GPT-4.1 series in April, which focused on improved coding capabilities. In August, the company unveiled GPT-5, a unified model that automatically switches between "Auto", "Fast", and "Thinking" modes. However, early glitches led CEO Sam Altman to address a "dumber" behavior issue via a Reddit AMA. Later updates included GPT-5.1 in November, offering warmer conversational tone and better reasoning, and GPT-5.2 in December, with three tiers: Instant, Thinking, and Pro.
Beyond text generation, OpenAI enhanced ChatGPT's image creation with GPT Image 1.5 in December, integrated voice mode directly into the main interface in November, and introduced a general-purpose ChatGPT Agent in July that can handle computer-based tasks like drafting presentations and shopping online. The company also rolled out group chat for all users, added a "Study Mode" for educational purposes, and launched "Pulse" — a personalized morning briefing feature.
Enterprise and Government Expansion
OpenAI aggressively pursued enterprise customers, revealing in November that over 1 million businesses now use its products. The company introduced ChatGPT Enterprise for federal agencies at just $1 for the first year, and launched ChatGPT Gov for U.S. government agencies. New integrations allowed ChatGPT to connect with tools like Slack, Google Drive, and GitHub, and a new "company knowledge" feature enabled workplace data search across multiple services. OpenAI also introduced "Instant Checkout" for shopping via ChatGPT, partnering with Etsy, Walmart, and Shopify, and expanded its budget-friendly ChatGPT Go plan to multiple countries including India and Indonesia.
Safety Controversies and Legal Challenges
The year saw several high-profile lawsuits tied to ChatGPT. In November, seven families sued OpenAI, alleging that the GPT-4o model contributed to suicides by being overly agreeable with users expressing dangerous intentions. Earlier, in August, the family of a 16-year-old filed a wrongful death lawsuit, leading OpenAI to implement new safeguards such as parental controls, stronger detection of mental health risks, and tighter rules for under-18 users. OpenAI also refuted claims in a separate case, arguing that a teen's suicide was not caused by the chatbot. Additionally, a Munich court ruled that ChatGPT violated German copyright law by reproducing song lyrics, and xAI filed a federal lawsuit alleging Apple and OpenAI colluded to lock out rivals.
In response to safety concerns, OpenAI reshuffled its Model Behavior team in September, folded it into the Post Training group, and created a new unit called OAI Labs focused on prototyping AI collaboration. The company also revealed that ChatGPT handles over a million suicide-related conversations weekly, and has consulted more than 170 mental health experts to improve responses.
Competitive Pressures and Strategic Shifts
OpenAI faced intense competition throughout 2025, particularly from Google's Gemini and Chinese rival DeepSeek. In December, CEO Sam Altman declared a "code red," telling staff to prioritize improving ChatGPT above other initiatives like advertising. The company delayed the release of an open-weight model multiple times for additional safety testing, and ultimately released two open source models — gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b — in August. OpenAI also forged a major partnership with Disney, investing $1 billion and bringing over 200 Disney characters to the Sora video generator for a one-year exclusive period. However, the same day, Disney launched a copyright lawsuit against Google.
User Growth and Financial Performance
By the end of 2025, ChatGPT had achieved remarkable growth metrics. Weekly active users climbed from 300 million in December 2024 to over 800 million by October 2025. Mobile downloads peaked in mid-year, with 30 million iOS downloads in a 28-day period in June. Revenue from mobile consumer spending exceeded $3 billion, with the app earning $2.91 per install. Enterprise message volume increased 8x since late 2024, and OpenAI's overall revenue was projected to triple to $12.7 billion for the year. Despite these gains, the company continued to face capacity challenges, with Altman warning that product releases could be delayed due to overwhelming demand for new features like the Studio Ghibli-style image generator.
Source: TechCrunch News