OpenAI announced on Thursday that India has become the largest user base for ChatGPT Images 2.0 since its launch last week. However, other data reviewed by TechCrunch shows a more moderate global response, with small overall growth but sharp increases in some emerging markets.
ChatGPT Images 2.0 is OpenAI’s newest image-generation upgrade. It’s designed to handle more complex instructions and create detailed pictures, including accurate text in many languages. Early information from the company suggests users—especially in India, its biggest market—are using it to make personal images like avatars, stylized portraits, and fantasy pictures.
Data from Sensor Tower and Similarweb shared with TechCrunch suggests the rollout had a mixed global impact. ChatGPT’s app downloads went up 11% week-over-week after the launch, according to Sensor Tower. But overall engagement gains were small, with daily active users and sessions only increasing by about 1%. Similarweb data also shows a small rise in ChatGPT’s global web traffic, up about 1.6% week-over-week during the same period.
However, Sensor Tower data indicates that some emerging markets, including Pakistan, Vietnam, and Indonesia, saw much bigger jumps in ChatGPT’s app downloads. These countries saw increases of up to 79% week-over-week during the launch period.
Meanwhile, India remained a major source of activity during the rollout. Sensor Tower estimates show ChatGPT was downloaded about 5 million times in India during the launch week, compared to roughly 2 million in the U.S. Still, growth remained modest on a week-over-week basis. Similarweb data also points to a small increase in engagement, with daily active users in India rising about 3.4% week-over-week during the same period.
In India, early trends suggest ChatGPT Images 2.0 is mainly used for self-expression. Instead of purely practical outputs, users are creating studio-style portraits from everyday photos, images ready for social media, and imaginative pictures that put themselves in the center, OpenAI said.
These early patterns also show how AI image tools are being used differently in various markets. While India’s large user base drives the overall size of adoption, sharper increases in countries like Pakistan and Indonesia point to stronger demand from new users in emerging markets after the launch.
OpenAI’s Images 2.0 launch comes as competition in AI image generation gets tougher. Google’s earlier image-focused model, the original Nano Banana, also gained strong early interest in India. This shows how India has become an important market for image generation.
With the new ChatGPT Images release, OpenAI is pushing further with improvements. These include better rendering of non-Latin text, such as Hindi and Bengali, and new “thinking” abilities. These allow it to refine outputs and create many variations from a single instruction.
Beyond stylized portraits and avatars, OpenAI said early Images 2.0 users in India are experimenting with a wider range of formats. These include fantasy newspaper covers, tarot-style visuals, and fashion mood boards. Users are also using the AI tool to restore old photos and create cinematic portrait collages, the company said, suggesting early signs of more personal use.
