AI is hot in the workplace: ChatGPT now has more than 1 million business users

ChatGPT has found a niche not just among individuals but among organizations. The business and educational flavors of OpenAI's chatbot have officially snagged more than 1 million paying business users, a company spokesperson told ZDNET. That number is a hefty gain from the 600,000 recorded this past April.

The amount represents the total number of paid seats for the ChatGPT business offerings as different companies have different numbers of seats based on their size. The number includes users of OpenAI's three business-oriented platforms, specifically ChatGPT Enterprise (launched August 28, 2023), ChatGPT Team (launched January 10, 2024), and ChatGPT Edu (launched May 30, 2024).

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Since the educational edition rolled out in May, the April number of 600,000 includes only Enterprise and Team users. But still, the leap from that level to more than 1 million in just a few months is a substantive one.

More than half the seats for all three products are outside the US. Germany, Japan, and the UK hold the spots for the top three non-US countries. Adopters of the business flavors include a diverse lineup with such organizations as Arizona State University, Moderna, Rakuten, and Morgan Stanley.

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Based on a survey of 4,700 OpenAI business users, those in the corporate and educational worlds are taking advantage of ChatGPT's AI skills. Among those polled, 92% said they've seen an increase in productivity, 88% said they've been able to save time, and 75% reported improvements in creativity and innovation. The top use cases for ChatGPT shared by the respondents are gathering research, drafting and editing content, and coming up with ideas.

Though many of today's generative AI systems seem geared toward individual users, the business market has been lucrative. With that in mind, more companies are trying to grab a slice of the corporate pie. On Wednesday, Claude developer Anthropic kicked off an enterprise plan for its AI, designed with both security and administration in mind.

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Such AI plans strive to gain traction among businesses and schools by appealing to specific departments and job roles, including sales, marketing, human resources, product development, and project management.

Each of the three ChatGPT business plans provides its own niche features and benefits.

Designed for organizations with at least 150 employees, ChatGPT Enterprise offers unlimited access to advanced data analysis tools. Shareable chat templates allow you to build your own applications and workflows around ChatGPT.

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Priced at $25 per person per month, ChatGPT Team is geared toward any type of group that wants to share the AI tool. This can include a department within a business or a family or club focused on personal tasks.

Finally, ChatGPT Edu is aimed at universities and other schools to give students, teachers, and researchers AI access. The educational version comes with the same security, controls, and other options as the enterprise version. Universities have used this platform to help tutor students, write grant applications, grade assignments, and analyze large datasets.