A working paper by OpenAI with researchers from Duke and Harvard, published via the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), analyzed roughly 1.5 million consumer ChatGPT conversations from May 2024 to July 2025. As of June/July 2025, about 70-72% of the messages were classified as non-work usage, up from ~53% in mid-2024. Work-related usage (tasks tied to professional or job-oriented activities) has fallen to about 27-30% of all messages.
How People Are Using ChatGPT (Non-Work Use Cases)
Here are the primary types of non-work conversations:
- Practical guidance (how-to queries, recipes, health advice, etc.) is a large share.
- Writing help, such as drafting personal emails, letters, school essays, editing text.
- Information seeking, e.g. asking questions, learning general knowledge, doing personal research.
Use for coding, specialized technical or professional tasks (e.g. business/enterprise usage) makes up a smaller slice.
Why This Shift Matters
- Democratization of AI use: More people are using ChatGPT in everyday life, not just for work. Useful for students, hobbyists, or people seeking personal advice.
- Changing user profiles: The report shows that demographic usage is diversifying—gender gap narrowing; younger users dominate non-work use.
- Implications for product design: To serve users better, OpenAI (and others) might focus more on features for personal use: improved writing assistance, creativity tools, life-advice, etc.
- Regulatory and policy impact: Non-work usage still brings issues around privacy, misinformation, correctness, safety—these need oversight even if the purpose is personal.
Things to Keep in Mind / Limitations
- The study focuses on consumer messaging (free, Plus, Pro tiers), excluding enterprise / educational versions of ChatGPT. So the share of work-use may be higher in those segments. The Indian Express
- Messages were automatically classified via tools (LLMs) for “work vs non-work.” There could be classification errors or ambiguity in what counts as “work usage.”
- Cultural / regional differences may exist: use patterns in countries outside the U.S. or in different socioeconomic groups might vary. The study’s sample may not fully represent global use.
Conclusion
OpenAI’s newest data confirms that a substantial majority—around 70%—of ChatGPT’s usage by consumers is non-work related. While work-related use remains significant, everyday personal tasks, learning, writing, curiosity, and advice are what people are using ChatGPT for most. As the tool becomes more embedded in general life, its creators and regulators will need to balance usefulness with ensuring accuracy, safety, and responsible use.
