OpenAI is proud of the organization’s victory days after an internal “code red” over the Google threat

OpenAI released new data on Monday showing that enterprise use of its AI tools has skyrocketed over the past year, with the volume of ChatGPT messages increasing 8-fold since November 2024, and employees reporting saving up to an hour per day. The results arrive a week after CEO Sam Altman sent an internal report “Code Red” memo. About the competitive threat to Google.

The timing underscores OpenAI’s quest to redefine its position as a leader in AI, even as it faces increasing pressure. While approximately 36% of US businesses are ChatGPT Enterprise customers compared to 14.3% for Anthropic, per Artificial intelligence slope indicatorThe majority of OpenAI’s revenue still comes from consumer subscriptions — a base threatened by Google’s Gemini subsidiary. OpenAI must also compete against rival AI company Anthropic – which profit It comes mainly from B2B sales – and increasingly, Providers of open weight models For enterprise clients.

The AI ​​giant has committed $1.4 trillion For infrastructure commitments over the next few years, making the organization’s growth essential to its business model.

“If you think about it from an economic growth perspective, consumers are really important,” Ronnie Chatterjee, chief economist at OpenAI, said during a press conference. “But when you look at historically transformative technologies like the steam engine, it’s when companies adopt and scale those technologies that you really see the biggest economic benefits.”

New findings from OpenAI suggest that adoption among larger organizations is not only growing, but becoming more integrated into workflows. Not only are employees sending more messages, but organizations using the OpenAI API (its developer interface) are consuming 320 times more “logical code” than a year ago, suggesting that companies are using AI to solve more complex problems. They either experiment extensively with new technology and burn tokens, without necessarily getting long-term value.

That increase in logical symbols, which is associated with an increase Energy useIt can be expensive for businesses and therefore unsustainable in the long term. TechCrunch asked OpenAI about the organization’s budget allocation for AI and the sustainability of this growth rate.

In addition to its initial usage metrics, OpenAI is also seeing changes in how companies deploy its tools. The report found that the use of custom GPT tools — which companies use to push corporate knowledge to assistants or automate workflows — jumped 19 times this year, and now accounts for 20% of enterprise messages. OpenAI pointed to digital bank client BBVA, which it says regularly uses more than 4,000 custom GPTs.

“It shows you how people can really take this powerful technology and start customizing it for things that are useful to them,” Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer at OpenAI, said during the press conference.

These integrations have resulted in significant time savings, according to OpenAI. Participants reported saving between 40 to 60 minutes per day with OpenAI enterprise products – although this may not include time spent learning the systems or motivating or debugging the AI ​​output.

The report found that corporate workers are increasingly taking advantage of AI tools to expand their capabilities. Three-quarters of those surveyed say that AI enables them to do things, including technical tasks, that they could not do before. OpenAI recorded a 36% increase in programming-related messages outside of engineering, IT, and research teams.

Although OpenAI has made the point that its technology democratizes access to skills, it is important to note that more biometric programming could lead to More security vulnerabilities And other defects. When asked about this, Lightcap pointed to OpenAI’s recent release of its proxy security researcher Aardvarkwhich is in private beta, as a potential means of detecting bugs, vulnerabilities, and exploits.

The OpenAI report also found that even the most active ChatGPT Enterprise users are not using the most advanced tools available to them, such as data analysis, reasoning, or searching. During the briefing, Lightcap believed this was because full adoption of AI systems requires a shift in mindset and deeper integration with an organization’s data and processes. He said adoption of advanced features will take time, as companies retool workflows to better understand what’s possible.

Lightcap and Chatterji also emphasized the findings of a report that showed a “growing gap in AI adoption,” with some “frontier” workers using tools more often to save more time compared to “laggards.”

“There are companies that still look at these systems as a piece of software, something I can buy and give to my team, and that’s kind of the end of it,” Lightcap said. “Then there are companies that are actually starting to adopt it, and it’s very similar to an operating system. It’s basically a reworking of a lot of company processes.”

OpenAI’s leadership — certainly feeling the pressure of the company’s $1.4 trillion infrastructure commitments — has framed this as an opportunity for those lagging behind. For workers training AI systems to replicate their work, “catching up” may seem more like a countdown.