What the World Is Asking ChatGPT in 2025

Visual Capitalist ^ | 07/13/2025 | Dorothy Neufeld

[SeekAndFind]

What are people really asking ChatGPT?

With adoption growing, ChatGPT prompts are shifting as consumer behavior evolves. While software development prompts continue to dominate, their share has fallen meaningfully over the past year, reflecting how developers were among the earliest users of ChatGPT for code and other applications.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most popular ChatGPT prompt categories, based on data from Sensor Tower.

Top Categories for ChatGPT Prompts in 2025

Below, we show the leading prompt categories on ChatGPT between March and April 2025:

Covering 29% of all prompts, software development is the top category for ChatGPT users.

Along with simplifying coding tasks across multiple programming languages, ChatGPT can help debug and automate tasks. A separate study found that early coders (those with under a year of coding experience) were most likely to be AI optimists among coders.

History and society prompts were the second-most common type of prompt, at 15% of the total share. Meanwhile, AI and machine learning prompts followed closely behind.

Interestingly, the fastest-growing category was economics, finance and tax—with its share jumping more than threefold in a year as users increasingly look for insights on stocks, financial markets, and macroeconomic trends.

To learn more about this topic from a user perspective, check out this graphic on the most popular AI tools in 2025.

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TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: ai; chatgpt; prompts

[crusty old prospector]

“When should I buy Bitcoin?”

[Tell It Right]

I tested it by asking it to make a C# program that proves the Pythagorean Theorem. Instead it made a program that calculates it, but doesn’t come close to proving it.

[algore]

I have less than 50% success getting chatgpt to give correct answers.

Admittedly that is higher than any congress critter, but that is not a high bar

[GaltAdonis]

I haven’t even used the thing yet. Guess I’m a Luddite. LOL.

[Nervous Tick]

Me neither, nor do I intend to. I’m a budding Luddite.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: “ When should I buy Bitcoin?”

So what was the reply?

[vpintheak]

Have a coworker that uses it to come up with formulas for things he is analyzing.

[Repeal The 17th]

I tried it and the answer it gave me was 42.

[Paladin2]

“...the answer it gave me was 42...”

So, it’s still on top of its game....

[calljack]

Ask it who is the president.

[SirFishalot]

Getting good answers from Ai really depends on the quality of the prompt "question" asked of it. The company I work for recently provided a workshop for all of the employees in it's uses and how to effectively use it. What I learned was that the prompt often times needs to be refined many times as one drills down to get to the desired/correct response.

The most practical and effective use I've actually worked with is a new front-end we created, the coding completely written using Ai, for a very large quality database we use. It's actually really cool as it has automated literally hundreds of weekly data input hours.

[maddog55]

I asked chat gpt what is the inside diameter of the coolant overflow hose on a jeep jk. I got 1/4”, I said that’s way to small, it apologized and said 3/8”, I said that’s two big , it apologized and said 5/16”, I said that sounds about right but which is it 1/4, 3/8 or 5/16 per OEM speciations. It apologized and replied back with 1/4” again.

Worthless.