ChatGPT User Base Surpasses 2 Million in Korea Amid DeepSeek Suspension

OpenAI's ChatGPT application has reached a significant milestone in Korea this month, with weekly users exceeding 2 million for the first time. This notable increase was reported following the temporary suspension of the Chinese artificial intelligence application DeepSeek by the local government due to concerns regarding data management practices.

According to data from industry tracker IGAWorks, the initial week of February recorded 2,025,546 users of ChatGPT, and the number grew to 2,092,797 users in the following week. Prior to this surge, ChatGPT had maintained a user base of approximately 1.5 million since the beginning of the year.

The emergence of DeepSeek appeared to influence the usage of competing AI applications, leading to an uptick in ChatGPT's user numbers, which rose to 1,804,499 users in the last week of January.

In light of rising security concerns, both public institutions and private organizations in Korea began implementing bans on DeepSeek. This culminated in the Personal Information Protection Commission temporarily halting new downloads of the Chinese application this past Monday, primarily addressing worries over its data collection methods.

As a result of these actions, ChatGPT experienced a significant increase in user engagement. On Monday, the app registered 829,459 users, reflecting an increase from 760,766 the previous day. The upward trend continued, with user numbers climbing to 855,979 on Tuesday, suggesting that this growth may persist in the short term.

This spike in popularity illustrates a shift in user preference amidst heightened scrutiny over alternatives like DeepSeek.

ChatGPT, users, DeepSeek