TL;DR: Gartner has recognised OpenAI as an Emerging Leader in its 2025 Innovation Guide for Generative AI Model Providers. The designation reflects OpenAI’s progress supporting over 1 million companies with AI deployment, whilst ChatGPT Enterprise seats have grown ninefold year-over-year.
Enterprise AI Becomes Core Infrastructure
Gartner’s recognition places OpenAI in the Emerging Leaders quadrant alongside Google, Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Anthropic, Writer and Microsoft. The quadrant categorises providers based on features and future potential, with Emerging Leaders scoring highly on both dimensions.
OpenAI attributes the recognition to investments in privacy controls, data governance and residency, monitoring and evaluations that enable enterprises to deploy AI safely. Major customers including Amgen, Cisco, Morgan Stanley, T-Mobile, Target and Thermo Fisher Scientific are deploying AI systems that reshape operational workflows, moving beyond experimental projects.
“AI is becoming a core layer of enterprise infrastructure,” OpenAI states, emphasising that companies are now implementing production AI systems rather than merely experimenting with the technology.
Rapid Enterprise Adoption Drives Growth
OpenAI has become what it describes as “the fastest-growing business platform in history,” now serving more than 1 million companies across industries. The company reports 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users, with enterprise momentum driven by employees requesting access to ChatGPT as a preferred tool.
This existing user familiarity accelerates pilot programmes and return on investment, contributing to ChatGPT Enterprise seats growing ninefold year-over-year. The company positions this user-led adoption as a key differentiator in enterprise deployments.
Future Development and Market Position
Giancarlo “GC” Lionetti, OpenAI’s Chief Commercial Officer, described the Gartner recognition as “an encouraging step” whilst noting the company remains “energized for what comes next.” OpenAI indicates that future AI systems will be “more collaborative, more capable, and more deeply integrated into how companies operate.”
The company maintains its focus on helping organisations “turn AI from an idea into measurable impact,” positioning itself for continued enterprise market expansion.
Gartner’s Innovation Guide places competitors Meta and Mistral AI in the Emerging Challengers quadrant, whilst providers including UiPath, Cohere and Vectara occupy the Emerging Visionaries segment. Adobe, Scaleway and Fujitsu appear in the Emerging Specialists category.
Source: OpenAI