OpenAI released a new batch of ChatGPT usage data on October 26, 2026. It's called OpenAI Signals v3.0, and it tracks what people use consumer ChatGPT for, month by month, from July 2024 through September 2026.
The sample is 1 million messages a month from adults on the Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans. Business accounts (ChatGPT Enterprise) and Codex, OpenAI's coding tool, aren't included. So this is everyday people using ChatGPT on their own accounts.
Looking things up caught up to writing
In August 2026, 20.7% of consumer ChatGPT messages were people seeking information, and 20.6% were writing. That's the first month in the data where looking things up came out on top. Writing moved back ahead in September, 21.4% to 20.2% (OpenAI Signals v3.0).
The longer trend is clearer. Writing was 34.1% of messages in July 2024 and 21.4% in September 2026. Seeking information went from 16.7% to 20.2% over the same stretch.
People now ask ChatGPT for answers about as often as they ask it to write something.
The biggest category is how-to help
The largest category in the data is practical guidance: how-to advice and tutoring. It has been the top category every month since March 2025, and it was 28.1% of messages in September 2026.
| Category | Share of consumer ChatGPT messages, September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Practical guidance (how-to advice, tutoring) | 28.1% |
| Writing | 21.4% |
| Seeking information (facts, products and services, recipes) | 20.2% |
OpenAI's definition of seeking information covers 3 kinds of requests: questions about facts, questions about products and services for sale, and recipe or cooking help. All 3 are counted together, so there's no way to tell how many were product or service questions specifically.
Add practical guidance and seeking information together and you get about 48% of messages. Roughly half of what people type into ChatGPT is a question with an answer.
What this means if you run a local business
Those are the same questions your customers used to type into Google. How often should I get my house treated for pests in Florida? What should I bring to my first meeting with a CPA? How long does a new concrete driveway need before I can park on it?
AI tools build their answers from sources they can read and understand. If your website answers those questions plainly, you have a shot at being part of the answer. If your site is a homepage, a list of services, and a contact form, there isn't much for it to use. I walk through how that works in how AI search works, step by step.
The work side is moving too
Work-related messages were 32.2% of all consumer messages in September 2026. Within those, the share of people looking things up stayed between 10.7% and 12.1% every month from July 2024 through July 2026. Then it rose to 13.9% in August and 15.2% in September.
Two months is early. If you sell to other businesses, keep an eye on it. It suggests buyers are starting to research vendors inside ChatGPT during the workday.
What the data doesn't tell us
The data shows what people ask. It doesn't show how often ChatGPT read a website or named one in its answer. So it proves people use ChatGPT to get answers. It doesn't prove ChatGPT sends traffic.
The numbers also don't match OpenAI's earlier research. OpenAI's 2025 paper with Harvard researchers put seeking information at 24% of ChatGPT usage by mid-2025. Signals uses the same classification prompts and shows 18.3% for June 2025. OpenAI hasn't explained the difference.
When I quote these numbers, I use the newest data and name the version. Each Signals update adds a quarter of data and revises earlier months, so a figure can shift from one version to the next.
What I'd do with this
Write down the 10 questions customers ask you most. On the phone, at the counter, over email. Answer each one on your website in plain language, with the answer in the first sentence or two.
Write the how-to content. It's the biggest category on the platform, and you already know the steps, the timelines, and the mistakes people make.
Make your services and prices easy to read. If a page makes a person guess what you offer, an AI tool has to guess too.
Then ask ChatGPT those same 10 questions and see who it names. That's the first thing I check in every audit.
Summary
- OpenAI released Signals v3.0 on October 26, 2026, covering consumer ChatGPT messages from July 2024 through September 2026.
- Seeking information was 20.7% of messages in August 2026, just ahead of writing at 20.6%. Writing led again in September, 21.4% to 20.2%.
- Practical guidance is the largest category, at 28.1% in September 2026, and has been every month since March 2025.
- Together, how-to help and looking things up make up about 48% of consumer ChatGPT messages.
- The data measures what people ask. It doesn't measure whether ChatGPT cites or sends visitors to websites.
Sources: OpenAI Signals v3.0 data and data dictionary, October 26, 2026. OpenAI, "ChatGPT's expanding world of work," October 26, 2026. Search Engine Journal, Matt G. Southern, "ChatGPT Data: 1 In 5 Consumer Messages Now Seek Information," October 27, 2026. Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming, Hitzig, Ong, Shan, and Wadman, "How People Use ChatGPT," NBER working paper, September 2025.