THE WAU EFFECT

Summary from the TLDR AI newsletter

OpenAI's use of Weekly Active Users (WAU) rather than Monthly Active Users (MAU) renders its user base scale incomparable to other large consumer technology products. ChatGPT's user retention is likely quite low, meaning many users cycle in and out every month, inflating MAU relative to WAU. Dividing MAU would reveal relatively weaker unit economics that are directly comparable to other consumer technology products.