It's no secret that OpenAI got the jump on, well, everyone when it released ChatGPT over two years ago. Now, as companies like Google and Apple try to compete, they're starting way behind OpenAI, at least in the eyes of the public. Just how big of a head start does OpenAI have? As of March 2025, ChatGPT has 700 million monthly active users, which is a staggering total.
That doesn't mean Google is powerless in the fight against OpenAI for the bulk of consumer-grade AI market share. In the years since ChatGPT was released, Google ramped up AI development first through Bard, later renamed Gemini. While OpenAI's plan to monetize ChatGPT involved making a bunch of early features free and locking advanced ones behind a paywall, Google is doing the opposite.
