Here’s a recent reuters report. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/ghibli-effect-chatgpt-usage-hits-record-after-rollout-viral-feature-2025-04-01/

160 million active users is quite literally worse than many mobile games developed for a tens of, maybe hundreds of thousands of, usd. 160 million active users for 40 billion funding (they have needed more than this, but i cant be assed to go tally their funding) means theyve spent $250 per user, and their costs only grow as people use it. That is not including the massive server time subsidies Azure has provided them. This is not a profitable company and never will be.

“Block Blast” on the google play store has 40 million daily active users, 160 million monthly, and the studio has around 30 people. Its revenue from ads alone is in the tens of millions per month if this case study is accurate. Oai claims their monthly revenue in the hundreds of millions… with operating costs at greater hundreds of millions. oai profit is negative, with no signs of improving without entirely changing their business plan.

except that “get em hooked for free” part isnt working, nor is the “then make money” part.