- The use of chatgpt jumped at 78.3 billion tokens as schools returned in September 2025
- Openrouter data show an steep contrast between peaks of the academic year and summer lulls
- Students remain a major engine of Chatppt daily traffic, confirm studies
In news that will probably not be a huge surprise for anyone, Chatgpt has experienced a strong increase in use while schools will reopen in the West, with a generation of climbing tokens at record levels.
New OpenRouter data said that on September 18, the extremely popular Chatbot of Openai had recorded 78.3 billion tokens, the highest since the slowdown in summer.
The increase occurs after months of low activity during school holidays – in June 2025, when many schools let out, daily use fell on average of 36.7 billion tokens, compared to May 2025, which reached almost 80 billion tokens per day, coinciding with exams and finals.
Changing models for using AI
The openrout figures, which follow the use of its 2.5 million users, provide a detailed view of the way the models move throughout the year.
Although data represents only one platform, it has become a widely cited resource for researchers and investors who analyze the adoption of LLMS.
The figures clearly show that the students are behind a large part of the daily activity of Chatgpt.
As Futurism Reports, previous studies, including one from Rutgers University, have found solid links between academic calendars and peaks of use. Looking at the interactive graphic to open, this connection seems quite undeniable.
Breaks such as spring and summer are constantly aligning with the reductions in interaction, strengthening previous observations that traffic falls during the holidays and recovers with the school year.
Among the models measured by OpenRouter, Chatgpt 4.1 Mini was ahead of the rest, generating 26.9 billion tokens on September 18, before the newly launched GPT-5, which represented 18.7 billion tokens on the same day, with other models such as GPT-4O Mini and GPT-5 Mini the notable actions also.
Looking at the data, it is clear that AI tools are increasingly used in educational establishments with students who rely on the Openai chatbot for writing, information collection and study support.
It is not necessarily a bad thing of course, and many teachers and researchers will see the value of students learning to work with these systems in a responsible manner.
As with any new technology, the younger generations will inevitably be among the first to fully adopt AI in the context of their daily life.
The debate is not whether students should use AI, but how it can be guided, taught and balanced so as to support learning rather than replacing it.
