ChatGPT nears the billion-user mark
OpenAI announced ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly active users, up 100 million since October 2025 and more than double the 400 million reported in February 2025. Consumer subscribers now exceed 50 million, while business subscribers hit 9 million, a fourfold increase in nine months. The company says January and February 2026 were the largest months for new subscribers in its history.
Record $110 billion funding round
The user milestone came alongside news of a $110 billion private fundraising round, among the largest in history. Amazon led with $50 billion, followed by Nvidia and SoftBank at $30 billion each, at a pre-money valuation of $730 billion. OpenAI's valuation has nearly tripled in 18 months, reflecting the market's bet that AI will reshape every industry.
AI competition heats up
Apple launched its long-delayed Apple Intelligence update for Siri on June 9, rebranding it as Siri AI. Google's Gemini app has surged past 750 million monthly active users, with analysts predicting it will cross 1 billion by Q3 2026. Anthropic filed a confidential S-1 to begin the IPO process, and Alphabet raised $80 billion to extend its AI compute buildout. The race for AI dominance is entering a new phase.