Information seeking accounted for 20.7 percent of messages on consumer ChatGPT plans in August, nearly matching writing at 20.6 percent, according to Search Engine Journal. Search Engine Journal reports that this data comes from OpenAI Signals version 3.0, released on October 26, based on monthly samples from account holders aged 18 and older on Free, Go, Plus, or Pro plans.
Key takeaways
- Information-seeking consumer messages reached 20.7 percent in August compared to writing at 20.6 percent.
- Writing made up 34.1 percent in July 2024 and fell to 21.4 percent in September 2026.
- Practical guidance has stayed the top topic every month since March 2025.
- Work-related messages accounted for 32.2 percent of all messages in September.
What does the ChatGPT data reveal about consumer usage?
Search Engine Journal notes that August marked the first month in the series starting in July 2024 when the reported share for seeking information outpaced writing. Writing moved back ahead in September at 21.4 percent versus 20.2 percent. Over the tracked months, writing dropped from 34.1 percent in July 2024 down to 21.4 percent in September 2026, while seeking information rose from 16.7 percent to 20.2 percent.
Practical guidance, which covers tutoring and how-to advice, remained the biggest single topic every month starting in March 2025, hitting 28.1 percent in September. Work-related messages represented 32.2 percent of all messages that same month. Within work messages, the share of information seeking stayed between 10.7 percent and 12.1 percent monthly from July 2024 through July 2026, before climbing to 13.9 percent in August and 15.2 percent in September.
Openai signals and work activity insights
The work activity post organizes tasks into 165 activities from O*NET across nearly 100 countries by quarter from Q1 2025 through Q3 2026. Across 74 countries with data in every quarter, the top 10 activities averaged 51.1 percent of classified work messages in Q3 2026, down from 56.0 percent in Q1 2025. This shows work-related use becoming less concentrated in the most common tasks.
The data relies on an automated classification system. OpenAI uses a sample of 1 million messages per month while excluding Enterprise and Codex plans. The new version altered previous months to remain consistent with that higher number. OpenAI and Harvard researchers previously published a 2025 paper placing information seeking at 24 percent of usage by mid-2025, while Signals graphs showed 18.3 percent in June 2025 for the same timeframe.
Why this matters
About twenty percent of all consumer messages on ChatGPT involve looking something up, which equals roughly the share for writing. Product questions are included in this category, but because OpenAI grouped facts, recipes, and products together, the exact breakdown remains unknown. Also, while Signals tracks conversation topics, it does not share how often the platform accessed external websites or cited a source in replies, and anyone citing these percentages should note the specific version number and time frame.
Frequently asked questions
Seeking information accounted for 20.7 percent of messages on consumer ChatGPT plans in August, according to data released by OpenAI.
The monthly data sample excludes Enterprise and Codex accounts, focusing instead on users aged 18 and older on Free, Go, Plus, or Pro plans.
Practical guidance, which includes tutoring and how-to advice, has been the largest topic every month since March 2025.
The work activity post organizes work-related messages into 165 activities from O*NET, a standard framework grouping tasks shared across jobs.
OpenAI released Signals V3.0 alongside a blog post detailing how users bring work to ChatGPT, covering a monthly sample of 1 million messages.
Based on reporting by Search Engine Journal. Read the original article
