ChatGPT has crossed a huge milestone: 1 billion monthly app users. But the bigger story is messier, because people are using AI more while trusting it less. ChatGPT reached 1 billion global monthly app users in May 2026, according to Sensor Tower data cited by Reuters and PYMNTS. The milestone comes as public concern over AI jobs, energy use, misinformation, and regulation keeps growing. For South Africans, the trend matters because AI tools are entering work, education, customer service, and policy debates faster than public trust can catch up. ChatGPT just hit 1 billion monthly app users , making OpenAI’s chatbot one of the fastest-growing consumer apps in history. That sounds like a clean victory lap for AI. But it isn’t. The milestone comes at a strange moment. More people are using AI tools every day, yet more people also worry about what those tools could do to jobs, privacy, electricity bills, schools, and the internet itself. So the real story isn’t just that ChatGPT is po...