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The Great AI Divide: ChatGPT Goes Personal While Claude Stays Technical
OpenAI and Anthropic have both published new usage data, offering a rare look at how millions of people are actually using ChatGPT and Claude...
DataIntel
September 18, 2025
Source: OpenAI Reports
OpenAI and Anthropic have both published new usage data, offering a rare look at how millions of people are actually using ChatGPT and Claude. The findings highlight personal adoption surging, coding dominating Claude's usage and stark regional divides in where the technology is growing fastest.
Key Highlights:
📈 ChatGPT Turns Personal: Personal use grew from 53% of messages in mid-2024 to 73% in 2025, with advice and decision support now outweighing content creation.
💻 Claude Remains Technical: Coding and professional problem-solving remain the dominant focus for its users, with 36% of usage still focused on computer and mathematical tasks.
🌍 Global Spread Diverges: ChatGPT adoption in low and middle-income countries is expanding at four times the rate of wealthy nations, while Claude's growth remains centered in developed regions.
🔄 Shift in Use Cases: Users on both platforms are relying more on AI for information-seeking and search functions instead of direct output generation.
Why It Matters
The reports make clear that AI is no longer confined to professional tasks but is becoming embedded in daily choices, conversations and problem-solving across very different parts of the world. When millions are as likely to ask an AI for life advice as they are to use it for work, it shows just how quickly the technology is finding its place in the rhythms of everyday life.
This divergence also reveals something crucial about AI adoption: different platforms are evolving distinct user cultures. ChatGPT has become the "people's AI" - used more for personal guidance, tutoring, and everyday decision-making. Claude has maintained its identity as the "professional's AI" - preferred for complex reasoning, coding, and business applications.
The geographic patterns are equally revealing. While Claude usage concentrates in high-income countries like Singapore (4.6x expected usage) and Israel (7x expected usage), ChatGPT is growing fastest in emerging markets. This suggests we may be seeing the early formation of a "two-track" AI economy - one technical and concentrated in wealthy regions, another more democratised and spreading globally.