In October 2025, I joined Stirile ProTV to discuss ChatGPT's explosive growth to 700 million users and how people are actually using it — from correcting grammar to making major life decisions.
We covered the shift from 100 million to 700 million users in under two years, what the 3 billion daily messages reveal about usage patterns, and the critical difference between using AI as a tool versus treating it as a replacement for human judgment.
"El este o mașină, sunt niște numere care știu să prezică următorul cuvânt dintr-o conversație! Atât și nimic mai mult."
The conversation focused on understanding what 700 million users are actually doing with ChatGPT, and why the gap between personal and professional use matters.
How People Actually Use ChatGPT
Recent research from the National Bureau of Economic Research and Harvard University reveals clear patterns:
- 42% of messages: grammar and punctuation correction
- 6% request email writing and simple assignments
- 4% generate images
- 3% solve arithmetic problems (that a pocket calculator would handle)
- 2% engage in extended personal conversations
- 15% make career and relationship decisions based on ChatGPT's arguments
The most striking finding: over 72% of messages relate to personal life, not professional work — a significant increase from the previous year.
The Tool vs. Partner Problem
ChatGPT simulates human conversation extraordinarily well. This creates a psychological trap: we start treating it as a partner rather than a tool.
"Este foarte tentant, pentru că el simulează atât de bine vorbirea umană și interacțiunea umană, încât noi suntem fascinați și îl considerăm un partener uman, ceea ce nu este!"
The system predicts the next word in a conversation based on patterns in its training data. It does not understand context, relationships, or consequences the way humans do. When 15% of users make major life decisions based on its output, that distinction matters.
The Productivity Paradox
ChatGPT grew from 100 million to 700 million users in less than two years. Theoretically, this should drive measurable productivity gains across industries. The research shows the opposite: the influence on work output has been negligible.
Why? Because the majority of usage remains personal rather than professional. People are using it to chat, not to solve business problems at scale.
Using AI Like a Capable Colleague
The key is treating AI as you would a highly capable colleague — not a replacement for your own thinking:
- Use it to save time on grammar, formatting, initial research
- Treat outputs as starting points, not final answers
- Verify information, especially for critical decisions
- Understand what it can and cannot do
- Keep human judgment at the center
"Folosește-l ca pe un coleg inteligent, nu ca pe un înlocuitor pentru creier."
This Stirile ProTV interview highlighted the importance of understanding AI's actual capabilities and limitations — so we can use these tools effectively without abdicating our own judgment and decision-making.