ChatGPT usage is spiking, and it’s not just hype
ChatGPT usage is scaling fast. In the first half of 2025 alone, the number of prompts submitted grew by nearly 70%, according to data from Sensor Tower. That kind of acceleration is behavior change. We’re talking about tens of millions of people shifting the way they interact with machines.
When usage scales this quickly, it tells you something fundamental is happening under the surface. In January, Sensor Tower tracked around 17 million prompts, by June, that number had climbed up to nearly 29 million. That’s just their sample. The real global usage is orders of magnitude higher.
This is a new interface layer on top of the web itself. People are using ChatGPT to ask, learn, decide, and act, without leaving the chat. That shortens the journey between intent and outcome. When users get better answers faster, they stop going back to older tools.
So if your business is still thinking about ChatGPT as a side experiment, rethink. This is a behavioral pivot in real time. Businesses not aligned with how AI platforms serve data will struggle to maintain visibility as consumer patterns adapt faster than legacy digital strategies can follow.
Executives need to act now, not later. The organizations adapting fastest are already building AI-native search strategies, prioritizing content that AI can parse, reference, and present in an answer box. These companies aren’t just being found anymore, they’re being chosen.
Shopping queries surge as consumers trust AI for purchases
One of the clearest signals from the data: people are using ChatGPT to shop, and they’re doing it at scale. Shopping-related searches jumped from 7.8% to 9.8% of total prompts between January and June 2025. Factor in ChatGPT’s 70% overall growth, and shopping prompts effectively doubled.
That makes this more than a trend, it’s a shift in how product discovery works. Users aren’t just browsing, they’re typing a prompt, evaluating results, and clicking through. Personal tech, home improvement products, cosmetics, and fashion are leading the movement. These aren’t low-stakes categories. These are key verticals that drive significant consumer spend.
What does this mean for your business?
It means traditional search optimization is on borrowed time. AI-first discovery is already reshaping B2C and B2B tactics. The requirement now is “AIO”, AI Optimization, or what some call Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Either way, the goal is the same: be surfaced directly in AI results, not buried behind outdated SEO frameworks.
An important insight for C-suite leaders: if you’re waiting for this to settle, you’re going to miss the moment. Forward-looking brands are already reallocating marketing resources to master AI behavior. That requires understanding what generative models prioritize, contextual accuracy, product metadata, and clarity of value.
There’s a narrow window here: being ahead means dominating the space, being late means playing expensive catch-up later. With shopping behavior going through a generational upgrade, brand visibility depends on being not just indexed, but linked and actionable inside AI conversations. That’s the game now.
Developer interest in ChatGPT dips as specialized tools take over
We’re seeing a clear drop in coding-related queries on ChatGPT. From January to June 2025, coding prompts fell from 15.1% to 11.9%. On the surface, that may sound like declining interest. It’s not. This shift tells you developers are moving to tools that are purpose-built for programming needs.
Coders were early adopters of general-purpose AI like ChatGPT, but now they’re transitioning to more efficient platforms. Tools like Cursor, now powered by GPT-5, are tailored for writing and testing code. Other platforms, V0, Replit, and Loveable, all backed by Anthropic’s Claude Code, are offering streamlined, context-aware environments for developers. These tools reduce friction, improve accuracy, and integrate directly into coding workflows.
What this means for C-suite leaders: the developer stack is evolving. Your tech teams might no longer rely on broad tools, they’re gravitating to specialized AI that understands syntax, logic, and process at a developer level. That changes how technical teams work, ship product, and solve problems.
This is a signal for enterprises. If your business builds developer tools, ignoring this wave will leave you exposed. Startups and incumbents positioned around GPT-based or Claude-powered code assistants aren’t just alternatives anymore, they’re becoming standards. And if you’re a company hiring or retaining developers, it’s important to evaluate whether your team is equipped with the new generation of AI tooling that’s driving productivity.
The transition we’re seeing isn’t loss of interest. It’s migration to better-fit solutions. Expect that pattern to repeat in other verticals, too, as AI matures across specialized domains.
Healthcare searches are rising as consumers trust AI with sensitive information
Another trend that’s gaining traction, more people are using ChatGPT for healthcare questions. Not just general advice, but to understand diagnoses and interpret lab results. That kind of behavior marks a step-change in trust. When people use an AI tool to help make sense of medical information, the stakes are real.
OpenAI seems to recognize this shift. At the GPT-5 launch in August, they emphasized enhanced support for healthcare-related interactions, meaning better comprehension of complex terminology, more accurate contextual recall, and improved reliability across clinical-style queries.
For C-suite leaders in healthcare, insurance, digital health, or health-adjacent sectors, this is a strategic development. Consumers are building a new relationship with AI. They’re no longer Googling symptoms, they’re entering personal data into ChatGPT and asking for explanations. That opens new frontiers in patient education, proactive care, and AI-powered engagement.
It’s also an area where regulation, liability, and accuracy matter deeply. While the opportunity is massive, businesses need to approach it with precision. Deploying AI in clinical settings, whether for patient support, EMR interpretation, or assistant functions, requires well-designed validation strategies and compliance readiness.
The companies that get this right won’t just lower cost and improve efficiency. They’ll redefine how people access and understand healthcare. And for executives watching where AI lands next, this domain deserves close attention. The movement has already started.
ChatGPT clicks are surging, search behavior is evolving fast
Between March and June 2025, click-throughs on ChatGPT responses tripled, from around 100,000 to 300,000. The average click-through rate jumped from 2.2% to 5.7%. That kind of movement reveals something important: users aren’t just using ChatGPT for answers, they’re visiting the links it surfaces.
OpenAI has been gradually increasing the number of live links embedded inside ChatGPT responses. These links are becoming gateways. Users submit a prompt, receive a recommendation, and now they’re far more likely to act on it by following a suggestion to a product or content page. This brings AI closer to functioning as a full discovery and decision tool, not just a passive research assistant.
For content-driven businesses, this changes the equation. Being mentioned in ChatGPT responses isn’t enough. You want your content linked directly so it becomes a destination. Whether you manage an e-commerce platform, a media brand, or a reference-based site, link visibility will drive outcomes. Passive presence won’t convert.
For executives, this is a signal to adapt digital strategy now. Your teams should be working toward what we’ll call “link-level optimization” within AI platforms. Crisp metadata, trustworthy sources, clean site architecture, all of these become indicators of link-worthiness in generative outputs.
Companies that figure this out early will win more engagement, more traffic, and more conversions, while others will see traffic diverted to nimbler competitors who understand how AI search now decides what to show, and what to skip.
AI optimization (AIO) is now essential
Traditional SEO is still in play, but it’s losing ground fast. AI search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are changing how users discover content. It’s not about keyword matching anymore, it’s about triggering a relevant, synthesized response that includes your product, your services, or your solution.
AI Optimization, AIO, is about training your content to be understood, trusted, and retrieved by generative models. Unlike search engines that rank based on backlinks and keyword density, AI models prioritize coherence, credibility, and contextual fit. If your business hasn’t adapted to this yet, you’re operating on an outdated method of being found.
For executives, the adjustment isn’t just technical, it’s structural. AIO isn’t something you hand off entirely to IT or marketing. It requires cross-functional awareness across brand, content, data, and product teams. Models like GPT-5 are interpreting brand voice, customer reviews, support documentation, and pricing pages, anything public, and deciding in real time whether to include your business in a response.
The companies that get this right are doing two things: they’re restructuring how content is created, and they’re building direct, measurable pathways for AI systems to access and display it. The benefit? They’re not just visible; they’re selected.
If your audience is shifting to AI-native behavior, your online strategy has to meet them there. This is no longer about exposure at the edge of the funnel. This is about being the chosen answer. Your brand’s future visibility depends on it.
AI search is reshaping risk and opportunity for investors
Investors should be paying close attention to this shift in user behavior. The rise in ChatGPT usage, especially for product discovery and content interaction, is already impacting companies that rely on traditional search as their primary distribution channel. These changes are happening in real time, and the implications for valuation, reach, and market position are significant.
Businesses that depend heavily on ad-funded or traffic-driven models, news outlets, niche content sites, digital platforms, are facing new pressure. If generative AI tools reduce the need for users to visit websites, these companies risk losing direct traffic. Ad impressions drop, engagement falls, revenues follow. That fallout becomes visible on financial statements.
At the same time, this presents an edge for companies that adapt faster. AI-first visibility is becoming a new competitive differentiator. Generative engines don’t reward stale content or outdated optimization tactics. They prioritize relevance, clarity, trust, and authority. The companies that deliver this consistently are already pulling ahead, being surfaced more often, generating more traffic, and building stronger digital touchpoints with users.
There’s another layer to watch: monetization. OpenAI and other AI players are starting to test ad formats and sponsored content integrations. That changes the economics of these platforms and opens a new layer of competition. If monetization becomes widespread, the companies positioned to participate, either as advertisers or content providers, will gain strategic leverage and early mover advantage.
For investment teams, this means rethinking what qualifies as a durable advantage. Teams should ask: does the business have adaptable content infrastructure? Is it building AI-discoverable assets? Is its strategy reactive or proactive in this environment?
The model is shifting from audience attraction to algorithmic selection. That changes what matters for performance, and which metrics point to resilience. The businesses aligning fastest will win early. The rest won’t just lag, they could become invisible.
Recap
This shift isn’t theoretical, it’s already reshaping how users behave, how content gets discovered, and how businesses get selected. Traditional channels are losing influence. AI platforms are becoming the decision layer. If your strategy relies on being found through old systems, you’re already operating at a disadvantage.
For executives, the takeaway is straightforward: AI search isn’t a future trend, it’s a present one that’s scaling fast. User behavior is evolving in real time, and generative engines are guiding the journey. Whether you’re in e-commerce, content, healthcare, SaaS, or finance, your visibility now depends on how well you position your business inside an AI-led environment.
This means building a digital presence that’s structured, verifiable, and indispensable, because the models will decide what shows up. And only the most relevant options will be recommended, clicked, and acted on.
The companies that understand this are adjusting early. They’re tuning content for retrieval, ensuring accuracy, and measuring what matters across new formats and models. That edge compounds quickly.
What’s clear is this: the AI layer is here. Ignoring it isn’t an option. Competing in it is.
