India has become the largest market for ChatGPT Images 2.0 since its launch last week, OpenAI revealed on Thursday. This latest upgrade to OpenAI’s image-generation technology is built to handle more intricate prompts and produce detailed visuals, including accurate text across multiple languages. Early data from the company shows that users—particularly in India, its biggest market—are leveraging the tool to create personal visuals like avatars, stylized portraits, and fantasy-themed images.

Following the launch, ChatGPT’s app downloads rose 11% week-over-week, according to Sensor Tower, but overall engagement gains were modest. Daily active users and sessions increased by only about 1%. Similarly, Similarweb data indicates a limited uptick in global web traffic, with ChatGPT’s visits rising roughly 1.6% week-over-week during the same period. However, Sensor Tower data reveals that some emerging markets—including Pakistan, Vietnam, and Indonesia—experienced sharper spikes in ChatGPT app downloads, with increases of up to 79% week-over-week during the rollout. India remained a significant source of activity throughout this period. Sensor Tower estimates that ChatGPT was downloaded about 5 million times in India during launch week, compared to roughly 2 million in the United States, although growth on a week-over-week basis was still modest. Similarweb data also points to a limited rise in engagement, with daily active users in India increasing about 3.4% week-over-week.

In India, early trends suggest ChatGPT Images 2.0 is primarily being used as a form of self-expression. Rather than purely functional outputs, users are creating studio-quality portraits from everyday photos, images ready for social media, and imaginative visuals that place themselves at the center, according to OpenAI. These early patterns also highlight how AI image tools are being adopted differently across markets. While India’s large user base drives overall scale, sharper spikes in countries like Pakistan and Indonesia point to stronger demand from new users in emerging markets following the launch.

OpenAI’s Images 2.0 launch comes amid intensifying competition in AI image generation. Google’s earlier image-focused model, the original Nano Banana, also saw strong early traction in India, underscoring how the nation has become a key market for image generation. With this new ChatGPT Images release, OpenAI is pushing further with improvements such as better rendering of non-Latin text, including Hindi and Bengali, and new “thinking” capabilities that allow it to refine outputs and generate multiple variations from a single prompt.

Beyond stylized portraits and avatars, OpenAI said early Images 2.0 users in India are experimenting with a wider range of formats—from fantasy newspaper covers to tarot-style visuals and fashion moodboards. Users are also employing the AI tool to restore older photos and create cinematic portrait collages, suggesting early patterns of more personal and creative use.