Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks at Snowflake Summit 2025 at Moscone Center
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It took less than 1 week The newly available ChatGPT technology is on track to reach 1 million monthly active users (MAUs) in November 2022, making it the earliest technology to be adopted at the time. According to analyst firm Sensor Tower, you may hear a lot of negative opinions about AI when you listen to people on the street, but OpenAI has now reached the 1 billion mark.
On the emotional side, some point to recent graduation ceremonies at US universities where attendees moaned and moaned about the AI revolution, and to surveys that found people intentionally did not use AI in their workplaces for ethical reasons. You may also hear a lot about fully autonomous lethal weapons, thanks to the rug being pulled over you, your job thrown out, and the public uproar between humanity and the Department of Defense.
So why did GPT get McDonald’s numbers?
flying business
One reason for the LLM’s continued popularity may be due to its business applications. In 2025, OpenAI reported that its lineup had 1 million enterprise customers and over 800 million individual users. It’s weekly, not monthly.
“We are proud to work with category leaders in industries such as financial services, healthcare, and retail, where our technology puts intelligence at the center of customer experiences, internal operations, and team-level workflows.” A spokesperson wrote: At the time, exactly three years later, they were celebrating the milestone.
This is one reason why AI continues to snowball, even as many people try to combat its intrusion into our lives. But that is just one aspect of the disconnect, which may come from the old saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
the limited power of emotions
One of the basic ideas here is that there are powerful and universal trends that force people to engage. Because at the end of the day, we are all in this life together. Some of you may have concerns about something, but stick with your team, family, and friends.
I was read this report In an article from CNBC written on June 12, the same day I was reading, author Matthew Chin chronicled many recent events, contrasted emotion with reality, and reiterated that the backlash would not amount to effectively blocking AI development. Let’s extract a few lines.
“However, despite growing public outcry, global AI usage has soared to an all-time high.”
This is just reporting what happened. But it looks like this:
“In cases like Anthropic’s feud with the Pentagon, user ethical considerations may have driven use, but analysts say the broader trajectory of AI use is unlikely to be derailed by emotion.”
Chin quotes analysts by name as ballast.
“The strong trajectory of AI adoption shows no signs of slowing down,” said Hanno Stegman, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group’s AI and technology team, BCG X.
That is one such claim. Chin then wrote:
“As AI plays an increasingly central role in daily life, a deterioration in public sentiment will have little impact on users overall.”
Chin then cites a study and quotes Abe Yousef of Sensor Tower, the same company that listed GPT landmarks.
“While negative sentiment towards AI…is undoubtedly on the rise, consumers are increasingly using and relying on these platforms.”
Why am I including all of this as is? Because I think it gives you, as a reader, a taste of how this hit, at least for me. It’s reliable. That’s convincing. I am doubting myself. Can people really choose their own adventures in this area of life, especially work?
some tips
The value is that those with concerns can get guidance on how not to rely too heavily on AI. I liked this article by Forbes contributor Sol Rashidi. This article includes bullet point tips like “Stay curious” and “Limit your addictions,” as well as my personal favorite, which we should all be doing anyway: “Practice self-reflection.”
I attend many AI conferences in Boston, Davos, Switzerland, and around the world. I represent a member of the MIT community, and I hear many voices. I don’t think there is a single discovery or one exact path determined when it comes to AI. But emotional issues are a big problem. In the age of agentic AI, and with AGI or superintelligence on the horizon, there is a growing consensus that we need to better understand what it means to be human. Because obviously we’re all going to use LLM or whatever comes next.
