ChatGPT dominates AI usage with 7 most popular prompt types revealed

The most popular prompts users send to ChatGPT reveal significant patterns in how artificial intelligence tools are being utilized for everyday tasks and specialized problem-solving. With ChatGPT processing one billion queries daily from 400 million weekly users—dramatically outpacing Gemini’s 42 million weekly users—these common prompt categories offer valuable insights into user behavior and highlight meaningful performance differences between leading AI models.

1. “Explain [X] like I’m 5”

• ChatGPT-4o provides concise, streamlined explanations optimized for quick understanding.
• Gemini 2.5 takes a more expansive approach with playful analogies and comprehensive coverage of multiple concept dimensions.

2. “Summarize this text/article”

• ChatGPT-4o creates energetic, attention-grabbing summaries that capture essential information.
• Gemini 2.5 produces more analytical and editorially polished content that resembles professional analysis.

3. “Write a cover letter/resume”

• ChatGPT-4o generates employer-ready documents that immediately align with brand expectations.
• Gemini 2.5 focuses on creating detailed templates that users can further customize to their specific needs.

4. “Fix or write this code”

• ChatGPT-4o delivers clean, efficient code solutions optimized for immediate implementation.
• Gemini 2.5 emphasizes comprehensive documentation and explicit error checking in its code responses.

5. “Rewrite to sound more professional/funny/casual”

• ChatGPT-4o produces balanced rewrites with natural wit and appropriate tone adjustments.
• Gemini 2.5 offers multiple stylistic approaches to give users greater choice in how their content is transformed.

6. “Translate this”

• ChatGPT-4o creates poetically faithful translations that preserve aesthetic qualities of the original text.
• Gemini 2.5 prioritizes hyper-literal precision in its translation approach.

7. “Who would win in a fight between [fictional characters]?”

• ChatGPT-4o provides entertaining, concise hypothetical battle analyses.
• Gemini 2.5 creates comprehensive, context-aware evaluations that consider multiple factors.

Why this matters: These prompt patterns reveal how AI systems are increasingly becoming integrated into creative, professional, and educational workflows, with users gravitating toward different systems based on their specific needs for either concise engagement or detailed analysis.

The big picture: The significant usage gap between ChatGPT and Gemini suggests that OpenAI has established a commanding lead in the consumer AI market, potentially creating network effects that could make competition increasingly difficult for alternative models.