The state of play: 2022 to 2026

When OpenAI released ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, generative AI went from a research curiosity to something anyone could open in a browser. It became the fastest-growing consumer product on record, and by OpenAI’s own count it was serving more than 800 million weekly users by late 2025 — a figure that pushed past 900 million by early 2026.

Organizations followed the consumer surge. McKinsey’s 2025 global survey found 88% of organizations using AI in at least one business function, up from 78% a year earlier — effectively universal adoption. Spending scaled with it: Gartner projects worldwide AI outlays of roughly $2.5 trillion in 2026, a 47% jump year over year, led by infrastructure.

Yet value has not spread as evenly as usage. In the same McKinsey data, only about 6% of firms — the self-described “AI high performers” — tie more than 5% of earnings to AI, and just 7% report fully scaling it. Adoption is near-universal; measurable profit stays concentrated at the frontier.

• Consumer scale: ChatGPT went from launch in November 2022 to more than 800M weekly users by late 2025 (OpenAI).
• Enterprise reach: 88% of organizations now use AI in at least one function, up from 78% (McKinsey, 2025).
• Concentrated returns: only about 6% of firms tie meaningful profit to AI even as spend nears $2.5T in 2026 (McKinsey; Gartner).