OpenAI's ChatGPT became the fastest app ever to reach the milestone, but Claude and Meta AI are growing their userbases far more quickly
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According to CNBC, data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower shows OpenAI's ChatGPT surpassed 1 billion monthly active users in May — a record no app has reached more quickly. Sensor Tower noted that ChatGPT cleared the threshold just under 3.5 years after its November 2022 debut; Google $GOOGL Maps, the previous record holder, needed roughly five years to amass a comparable user base.
Competing AI apps are closing the gap at a far faster rate, however. Sensor Tower figures cited by Reuters put the year-on-year user growth of Meta $META AI at 973% and Claude at 640% — a stark contrast to the 62% expansion recorded by ChatGPT over the same stretch. Sensor Tower's tally for the quarter so far places Claude's global monthly active app user count at 56 million, per Reuters.
Tangible model improvements and a shift in how users perceive competing platforms have together driven the gains, Sensor Tower's senior insights analyst Abe Yousef said. OpenAI's February agreement to make its models available on classified Pentagon networks illustrated the dynamic: Sensor Tower recorded a roughly 295% day-on-day spike in ChatGPT uninstalls in the immediate aftermath of that announcement. Over that same weekend, with Anthropic having distanced itself from Pentagon work, Claude climbed to the App Store's number-one position and, for the first time, beat ChatGPT in U.S. download volume.
When American ChatGPT users added Claude to their devices during the first quarter of 2026, their time spent on ChatGPT dropped by 5% within a month relative to the eight-month baseline that preceded it, Sensor Tower data showed.
The usage surge is unfolding against a backdrop of growing public unease. At graduation ceremonies across the U.S., students have audibly expressed frustration with AI, citing fears over lost entry-level jobs and environmental costs; a separate survey from May documented workers who have opted out of using the technology on ethical, environmental, or privacy grounds. Last week Anthropic issued a call to halt AI development worldwide, cautioning that advances left unchecked risk spiraling beyond human oversight.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic are now moving toward public listings. OpenAI submitted a confidential S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, valued at $852 billion, while Anthropic filed its own IPO prospectus a week earlier at a valuation of $965 billion.
The headwinds have done little to dent actual behavior, Sensor Tower's Yousef said, pointing to steadily rising engagement across AI platforms even as critical voices grow louder. Data from a BCG survey of roughly 12,000 frontline workers, published June 3, found that nearly three-quarters now use AI on a regular basis — a share that has climbed 23 percentage points compared with the prior year.
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