The number of users of the ChatGPT app in Korea has surpassed 12 million. Starting from around 50,000 users two years ago, this figure has increased more than 200 times, and the user base, which was primarily in their 20s and 30s, has expanded to include users in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, establishing it as a national app that spans all generations.
According to mobile index, an app statistics analysis platform, the monthly active users (MAU) of the ChatGPT app last month was recorded at 12,039,420. This marks a 233-fold increase from 51,552 users on July 2023, just 24 months ago. Until last year, the growth rate was gradual, but this year, the upward trend has steepened, turning into explosive expansion.
In particular, the growth started to gain momentum in April of this year. The number of users, which remained at 5.09 million in March, surged to over 10.72 million in just one month. This marks the first moment that the number of ChatGPT app users in Korea surpassed 10 million, regarded as a critical turning point for its public proliferation. Afterward, it saw a brief slowdown at 10.17 million in May and 10.38 million in June, but continued to maintain stable growth with 11.29 million in July and 12.03 million in August.
The generational spread is also notable. As of last month, there were 2.59 million users in their 40s, 1.29 million in their 50s, and 230,000 aged 60 and above. Just among the middle-aged and seniors, this amounts to over 4 million, accounting for one-third of all users. Considering that only about 17,000 users from these generations were recorded two years ago, this growth is a dramatic increase into the millions.
Younger users still make up the core user base. There are 3.23 million users in their 20s and 2.63 million in their 30s, collectively accounting for nearly half of the total users, with the number of users in their teens also exceeding 2 million. Initially, the spread was spearheaded by those in their 20s and 30s, with the school-age demographic and middle-aged users following. This indicates that AI services, initially popular among college students and early-career professionals, are now rapidly proliferating among working individuals and families.
This expansion aligns with global trends. According to the market research firm Sensor Tower, the total usage time of generative AI apps worldwide reached 15.6 billion hours in the first half of this year, averaging 86 million hours per day. The total session count (426 billion sessions) has already reached levels comparable to those of search engines. Notably, ChatGPT has surpassed major search engine apps in global session counts, rapidly emerging as a 'search alternative platform.' In the UK, discussions are even taking place at the government level regarding providing paid versions of ChatGPT to all citizens, indicating that the dissemination of AI has become a national agenda.
Industry analysts interpret this trend of expansion as a sign that AI apps have entered a true phase of popularization. This is seen as the result of a combination of functional completeness and strategies that generate public interest. In particular, the image generation feature based on GPT-4o has spread as a 'meme' on social media, driving user inflow, and the intuitive conversational experience has further contributed to its appeal across all generations.
An industry insider noted, 'Initially, young people were often curious and took a casual approach, but now it has broadened to be used for report writing and various aspects of daily life,' and added that 'it has effectively become an essential tool as it is used alongside other generative AIs such as Gemini.'