Most ChatGPT users now communicate in non-English languages

More than half of active ChatGPT users on consumer plans now predominantly use a language other than English, according to data from OpenAI's Signals initiative. The shift marks a turning point for the AI chatbot, which launched in late 2022 as a largely English-language product.

The most common non-English languages among users are Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic, according to reporting by Search Engine Journal. Growth has been fastest in Africa and Asia, with adoption spreading rapidly across developing markets since mid-2023.business-news+3

Central Asia Leads Language Growth

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar highlighted the geographic breadth of adoption during a June 2 appearance on the All-In Podcast at the Liquidity summit in Hong Kong. Friar said Azerbaijani and Kazakh are the fastest-growing languages among ChatGPT consumers, while African countries lead among continents for app usage.astanatimes

"Over 900 million people use ChatGPT weekly, and it has become a noun and a verb. It is how most people first experience AI," Friar said during the appearance.astanatimes

The data underscores OpenAI's push into non-English markets. The company announced in June that it would open its first office in Spain, choosing Madrid as a hub for work with Spanish-speaking firms, developers, and public institutions. In Kazakhstan, OpenAI is distributing 165,000 ChatGPT Edu licenses across the country's education system as part of a joint initiative with the government.brusselssignal+1

A Platform Built for English Adapts to Global Demand

The linguistic shift comes even as technical challenges persist for non-English users. A February 2026 study by AI search analytics firm Peec AI found that 43 percent of ChatGPT's background web queries ran in English, even when the original user prompt was in another language. Research from Stanford published in 2025 found that large language models consistently underperform for speakers of lower-resource languages.news.stanford+1

OpenAI's Signals program, led by Chief Economist Ronnie Chatterji, began publishing aggregated usage data in February 2026 to offer transparency into adoption patterns across regions, demographics, and task types. The Q1 2026 update showed adoption broadening across older users, more countries, and a wider range of work-related tasks.linkedin+3

The United States and India together accounted for over 33 percent of global ChatGPT web visitors in April 2026, but the balance of the user base is tilting steadily toward the rest of the world.instagram