After a quiet summer, ChatGPT registers huge surge in traffic as schools (and classes) resume — ChatGPT 4.1 mini helps OpenAI to record highs as daily token generation reaches a staggering 78 billion. New OpenRouter data confirms that students remain the biggest driver of ChatGPT’s daily usage, with September 2025 marking the highest activity since early summer.
ChatGPT Usage Peaks with the Return of Schools
OpenRouter reports that on September 18, ChatGPT recorded 78.3 billion tokens in a single day, fueled by the return of students to classrooms. This surge represents a dramatic recovery from June 2025, when traffic dropped to 36.7 billion tokens daily as summer holidays began.
The pattern is clear: academic calendars directly influence ChatGPT’s traffic. When exams and finals dominate the school year, usage spikes. When classes break, usage dips.
Why Students Are Driving ChatGPT’s Growth
Students are consistently one of the largest groups relying on ChatGPT for homework help, research, and exam prep. Studies from Rutgers University and others show strong links between academic schedules and ChatGPT adoption trends.
The arrival of ChatGPT 4.1 mini has only accelerated this momentum. Its lightweight, cost-efficient design makes it faster and easier for students to integrate AI into their study routines.
OpenRouter Data Shows Seasonal Shifts
OpenRouter, with 2.5 million tracked users, provides one of the most reliable windows into how ChatGPT traffic ebbs and flows. While it represents just one platform, its data has become widely cited by researchers and investors analyzing LLM adoption.
Its September numbers show that demand doesn’t just return during the school year — it surges past previous highs, underscoring how deeply AI has embedded itself into student life.
What This Means for OpenAI
For OpenAI, this record-breaking moment highlights both opportunity and pressure. On the one hand, the adoption of ChatGPT 4.1 mini has opened new doors for accessibility and global reach. On the other, sustaining growth beyond seasonal peaks will require fresh strategies to engage users outside of the academic cycle.
Still, with 78 billion daily tokens generated, the latest surge underscores just how central ChatGPT has become to education and everyday productivity.
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