100 Products That Changed the World · #17: ChatGPT
On October 7, 2026, OpenAI began rolling out GPT-6 to every ChatGPT user, together with a feature called Intelligent UI: an answer is no longer just text but an interface you can click and work with directly.
Nine days earlier, at its developer conference, OpenAI said ChatGPT had 1.2 billion weekly users. That number had passed 1 billion only in July, and was 900 million in February.
The product is not yet four years old.
The model already existed
The kind of model behind ChatGPT had been available for more than two years before it launched.
In June 2020 OpenAI opened the GPT-3 API. Developers could apply for access and call it from code to generate text. Its users were mostly programmers and startups; ordinary people had largely never seen it.
In January 2022 OpenAI released InstructGPT, trained with human feedback to follow instructions better. ChatGPT used GPT-3.5 from that same line.
So what launched on November 30, 2022 was not new in model capability. It was new in form: a web page and an input box, where you ask the way you send a message and it answers line by line. No application, no code, just sign up and use it. OpenAI called it a “research preview”.
Five days, two months
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 2020 | GPT-3 API opens |
| November 30, 2022 | ChatGPT launches as a research preview |
| December 5, 2022 | More than 1 million users |
| January 2023 | About 100 million monthly users (UBS estimate) |
| February 2023 | ChatGPT Plus subscription launches at $20 a month |
| March 2023 | GPT-4 released |
| May 2023 | iOS app launches |
| November 2023 | 100 million weekly users |
| February 2026 | 900 million weekly users |
| July 2026 | More than 1 billion weekly users |
| September 29, 2026 | 1.2 billion weekly users |
| October 7, 2026 | GPT-6 rolls out to all users |
Five days after launch it had more than a million users. Two months later UBS, using third-party traffic data, estimated about 100 million monthly users and called it the fastest-growing consumer app at the time.
What one chat box got right
The conversational form lowered the bar for using a large model to typing.
Before it, using GPT-3 meant knowing what an API was, what a prompt was, what a token was. With a chat box you could ask half a question, follow up when the answer was wrong, and it kept the context itself. People did not need to learn how to use it before they could start using it.
That is why it gets 98 for originality on this ranking: ChatGPT did not invent the model, but it was the first to put “ordinary people talking directly to a large model” in front of hundreds of millions of them.
From answering questions to delivering things
In February 2023 ChatGPT Plus launched at $20 a month, with paying users getting new models first. That step turned it from a demo into a business.
In the years after, ChatGPT kept adding things in the direction of getting work done: reading images, searching the web, reading files, writing and running code, while the model moved from GPT-4 to GPT-5 and GPT-6.
Intelligent UI is one more step in that direction. In OpenAI’s words, everyday questions get a fully interactive interface as the answer. The chat box is still there, but the answers are no longer only text.
Why it ranks #17
| Dimension | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Originality ORG | 98 | Tied highest. The model existed already; “ordinary people talking directly to a large model” as a product was first brought to hundreds of millions by ChatGPT |
| Scale SCL | 96 | 1.2 billion weekly users, less than four years after launch |
| Impact IMP | 98 | Tied highest. It turned “AI” from a technical term into an everyday tool, and nearly every tech company followed with its own chat assistant |
| Experience EXP | 92 | You just type and follow-ups connect; wrong answers and made-up facts are still not fully solved |
| Business BIZ | 90 | The subscription model works, but training and inference costs are also extremely high |
| Durability DUR | 78 | Lowest. See below |
Overall OVR 92.50, ranked #17.
Why durability is only 78. This dimension asks how long a product lasts before it is replaced. Air conditioning has been in use for over a hundred years; the dimensions LEGO set for its brick in 1958 are still in use today. ChatGPT is not yet four years old. Its field changes model generations every few months, and its rivals sit at the same table: other chat assistants launched almost at the same time, some at lower prices. Even its own form is still changing; Intelligent UI is already pushing the chat box toward something else. A three- or four-year-old product has not yet had the chance to prove it can last thirty. The score does not say it will disappear; it says that cannot be seen yet.
It ranks behind #16 air conditioning (92.60) by 0.10. Apart from durability, ChatGPT beats air conditioning on originality, scale, impact and experience, a combined lead of 2.75 points; but durability, 78 against 97, takes back 2.85 points on its own.
It ranks ahead of #18 the LEGO brick (92.45) by 0.05. LEGO scores higher on experience (95) and durability (98); ChatGPT wins on originality, scale and impact.
A product less than four years old made the top 20 on originality and impact. Whether it moves further up depends on whether it is still on most people’s phones a few years from now.
All scores and rankings in this article were produced by Claude (AI).
The cover is a self-drawn graphic; no OpenAI trademarks or product screenshots were used.
Sources: the October 7, 2026 GPT-6 and Intelligent UI rollout is from OpenAI’s post “GPT-6 and Intelligent UI for everyone” and Sina Finance’s report of the same day. The 1.2 billion weekly users on September 29, 2026 and passing 1 billion in July are from OpenAI’s DevDay 2026 recap and The Verge’s report that day. 900 million weekly users in February 2026 is a figure OpenAI made public. The GPT-3 API opening in June 2020, InstructGPT in January 2022, ChatGPT’s November 30, 2022 launch as a research preview, passing 1 million users on December 5, 2022, about 100 million monthly users in January 2023 (UBS estimate based on Similarweb data), ChatGPT Plus in February 2023, GPT-4 in March 2023, the iOS app in May 2023 and 100 million weekly users in November 2023 are from OpenAI announcements and the reports cited in the English Wikipedia article “ChatGPT”. The ranking scores products.
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