According to OpenAI on Thursday, India has become the largest user base of ChatGPT Images 2.0 since its launch last week. However, third-party data reviewed by TechCrunch shows a more measured global response, with subdued overall growth and piercing spikes in select emerging markets.
ChatGPT Images 2.0, OpenAI’s latest image generation update, is designed to support more elaborate tooltips and create detailed visuals, including true text in multiple languages. The company’s early patterns suggest that users – especially in India, its largest market – are using it to create personal visuals such as avatars, stylized portraits and fantasy-themed images.
Data shared with TechCrunch by Sensor Tower and Likeweb suggests that the rollout has led to a more mixed response around the world. ChatGPT app downloads increased 11% week over week after launch, according to Sensor Tower, but overall engagement growth was modest, with daily energetic users and sessions only increasing by about 1%. Similar network data also shows confined growth in ChatGPT’s global web traffic, which was up around 1.6% week-on-week over the same period.
However, Sensor Tower data shows that some emerging markets – including Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia – have seen a surge in ChatGPT app downloads, up to 79% week-on-week during the rollout period.
Meanwhile, India remained the main source of activity during the rollout. Sensor Tower estimates show that ChatGPT was downloaded about 5 million times in India in its launch week, compared with about 2 million in the US, although week-over-week growth remained moderate. Data from Similar Network also shows confined growth in engagement, with daily energetic users in India growing by around 3.4% week-on-week over the same period.
In India, early trends suggest that ChatGPT 2.0 images are largely used as a form of self-expression. Instead of purely functional results, users create studio-style portraits from everyday photos, social media-ready images, and imaginative visualizations that put them in the spotlight, OpenAI says.
Early patterns also highlight differences in the adoption of AI imaging tools across markets. While India’s enormous user base is driving overall scale, sharper spikes in countries like Pakistan and Indonesia point to greater demand from novel users in emerging markets post-launch.
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The launch of OpenAI Images 2.0 comes amid growing competition in AI image generation. Google’s earlier image-centric model, the original Nano Banana, also saw robust early adoption in India, indicating that the country has become an significant market for image generation.
With the novel version of ChatGPT Images, OpenAI goes further with improvements such as better rendering of text in non-Latin languages, including Hindi and Bengali, and novel “thinking” capabilities that allow it to refine results and generate multiple variations from a single prompt.
OpenAI says that beyond stylized portraits and avatars, early adopters of Images 2.0 in India are experimenting with a wider range of formats – from fantasy newspaper covers to tarot-style graphics and fashion mood boards. Users also operate the AI tool to restore older photos and create cinematic portrait collages, the company says, suggesting early patterns of more personal operate.