Who on Earth Is Using Generative AI ? Global Trends and Shifts in 2025

Yan Liu, Jingyun Huang and He Wang

No 11231, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Nearly three years after ChatGPT’s launch, the generative artificial intelligence landscape remains in rapid flux. Using high-frequency website traffic data from Semrush, this paper tracks global adoption patterns for the 60 most-visited consumer-facing generative artificial intelligence tools through mid-2025. Five key findings emerge. First, fierce competition drives continuous innovation: two of 2025’s top five tools—DeepSeek and Grok—are new entrants, and development is rapidly diversifying into multi-modal capabilities, reasoning, and specialized applications. Second, ChatGPT maintains dominance despite competition, accounting for 77 percent of traffic to the top 60 tools in April 2025. Third, usage of generative artificial intelligence has exploded since mid-2024: ChatGPT traffic grew 113 percent year-over-year, driven by 42 percent user growth and 50 percent increased visits per user, with session duration doubling. Fourth, high-income countries are pulling decisively ahead, creating stark global divides. While 24 percent of internet users in high-income countries use ChatGPT, penetration drops to 5.8 percent in upper-middle-income countries, 4.7 percent in lower-middle-income countries, and just 0.7 percent in low-income countries. Regression analysis confirms that gross domestic product per capita strongly predicts adoption growth. Fifth, localization shapes competitive advantage: non-U.S. tools concentrate heavily in home markets, with Le Chat drawing 69 percent of traffic from Europe and several Chinese tools exceeding 90 percent domestic usage. These patterns reveal an artificial intelligence landscape characterized by intense innovation, persistent market leadership, accelerating growth, and deepening global inequality, underscoring the need for inclusive policies as generative artificial intelligence becomes central to economic participation.

Date: 2025-10-15
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