Business and economy·October 26, 2026, 20:32

ChatGPT is used for more kinds of work than before, new figures show

AI-generated from the sources listed, with automated source checks.

OpenAI has published data on what people use ChatGPT for at work. Usage is spreading across more tasks, and in the US, decision-making and problem-solving account for the largest share.

On October 26, 2026, OpenAI published new data on how ChatGPT is used for work. The data covers nearly 100 countries and 165 work activities from the US occupational data system O*NET. The time series is quarterly and runs from the first quarter of 2025 to the third quarter of 2026.

According to the figures, it is not just a few tasks that dominate. In the 74 countries with data for all quarters, the ten most common activities in each country made up an average of 51.1 percent of classified work messages in the third quarter of 2026. In the first quarter of 2025, the figure was 56.0 percent. Usage is thus spreading across more kinds of tasks.

What do Americans use it for?

In the US, the five most common work activities in the first quarter of 2026 were: making decisions and solving problems (21.6 percent), thinking creatively (15.6 percent), documenting information (11.8 percent), getting information (9.9 percent) and providing consultation and advice (9.0 percent).

From the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026, the share of "interacting with computers" fell from 11.7 to 6.7 percent. Providing consultation and advice rose from 5.5 to 9.0 percent, and thinking creatively rose from 11.8 to 15.6 percent.

In Germany, making decisions and solving problems also came out on top, at 19.4 percent. Computer work fell there by 4.3 percentage points. Interpreting information accounted for 8.6 percent in Germany, compared with 4.0 percent in the US.

What the figures do not show

The data is based on work-related messages from individual ChatGPT subscriptions. Messages from Enterprise subscriptions and use of the coding tool Codex are not included. More than 70 percent of consumer use of ChatGPT is not work-related.

The messages are classified automatically, without the researchers reading the conversations. This happens after information that could identify users has been removed. The results are aggregated, small groups are withheld, and statistical noise is added.

OpenAI itself cautions that the figures show only shares of messages. They say nothing about employment, productivity or job losses, and comparing them with employment data requires caution. About 43 percent of US employment tasks fall into "other" categories, which are not measured individually.

The figures are OpenAI's own and have not been independently verified. The sources make clear that they show shares and not absolute volumes.