AI·OpenAIOpenAI’s ChatGPT dominates personal uses, while Anthropic’s Claude has the edge in , dueling usage studies showBy Beatrice NolanBy Beatrice Nolan ReporterBeatrice Nolan ReporterBeatrice Nolan is a reporter on Fortune’s AI team, covering artificial intelligence and emerging nologies and their impact on work, industry, and culture.
She's based in Fortune's London office and holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of York.
You can reach her securely via Signal at beatricenolan.08SEE FULL BIO OpenAI and Anthropic studies highlight how different AI models are tailored to specific work and non-work tasks.Rival AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI have released dueling studies that paint a picture of how people are using their flagship ducts, ChatGPT and Claude.
Both pieces of re analyzed large datasets of user conversations, examining work and non-work-related conversations.
While the two companies used different datasets and methods, OpenAI’s analysis suggests the consumer versions of ChatGPT are used mainly for personal and exploratory purposes, whereas Anthropic’s findings show Claude.ai and Claude API are primarily used for work-related tasks coding, re, and education.
According to the study released by OpenAI, most ChatGPT conversations aren’t work at all.
Non-work-related messages made up more than 70% of all usage, up from 53% in June 2024, while work-related queries made up 27% of all messages, down from 47% of total conversations a year ago.
The re suggests that ChatGPT is becoming more of a general consumer duct than an enterprise tool.
The three most common ChatGPT conversation topics were categorized by reers as practical guidance, writing, and seeking information: these three collectively account for nearly 78% of all messages.
However, it is worth noting that OpenAI’s dataset covered usage on consumer ChatGPT Plans (Free, Plus, ) and did not include non-consumer plans such as Teams, Enterprise, or Education.
When ChatGPT was used for work, the study found that users appear to derive the most value when using the chatbot an advisor or re assistant, rather than asking it to perform tasks directly.
The reers argue in the study that ChatGPT boosts worker ductivity primarily through decision support.
It also found that users in highly-paid fessional and nical occupations are more ly to use ChatGPT for work.
The study found that writing tasks, which included editing and drafting, were the most common work use, accounting for 42% of work-related messages and more than half of all messages for users in management and occupations.
Around two-thirds of these requests were to modify existing text rather than create original text from scratch.
The number of people using ChatGPT for coding tasks is even smaller, with only 4.2% of total messages related to computer gramming, compared to Claude’s 36%.
nical Help, the umbrella category that included computer gramming, also had the lowest apparent user satisfaction of seven that the study examined.
In contrast, re from Anthropic found that Claude is used heavily for work-related ductivity, especially coding, education, and re.
Software engineering and coding were the dominant activities overall and ranked as the top tasks in every country where Claude is used.
Among work domains, the fastest-growing areas are education, which has increased by 40% since December 2024 and now accounts for 13% of all use, and scientific re, which has grown by 33% and now represents 8% of usage.
In contrast, traditional office and tasks have declined: management-related tasks have fallen from 5% to 3%, and and financial operations have decreased from 6% to 3%.
es, particularly those using Claude through the API, primarily use the tool for automation-heavy work, often for “full task delegation,” with 77% of API tasks automated compared to roughly 50% on Claude.ai.
The re suggests es are using the nology to automate rather than collaborate on work.
These -focused interactions are concentrated in coding, which accounts for 44% of API use, as well as administrative support. A further 5% of API usage is dedicated to or evaluating AI systems.
The dueling studies suggest that users are favoring specific models or ducts for different types of tasks.
ChatGPT is emerging increasingly as a personal or exploratory tool, used for writing, information-seeking, general advice, and casual interaction, while Claude is a more work-focused ductivity tool, used heavily for coding, re, and automation.
For example, Claude has been among software engineers for some time.
This market split also suggests that different AI companies could be carving out complementary niches rather than directly competing on all fronts. Fortune Global Forum returns Oct.
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