The third anniversary of ChatGPT’s launch is on Sunday, November 30, 2025. Analysts see this as a key moment in financial markets and the greater economy. What OpenAI started with a small product reveal has fueled the biggest tech boom in decades.
The timing of ChatGPT’s release was pretty amazing. The S&P 500 was having a rough year when OpenAI dropped its chatbot on November 30, 2022. The index fell to roughly 3,492 on October 12, 2022, a 25% decrease from its all-time high in January 2022.
The situation was grim because inflation jumped to 9.1% in June 2022. This was the highest in 40 years, and the Federal Reserve responded by increasing rates. In 2022, the central bank bumped up rates seven times, and June’s increase of 0.75% was the largest since 1994.
Those tech stocks that were so hot during the pandemic got wrecked. Stocks of Artificial general intelligence companies dropped by about 70% from their lowest points in 2022. Apple’s stock tanked almost 30%, Alphabet lost about 40%, and Amazon’s price got sliced in two.
At the launch of ChatGPT, the S&P 500 rebounded 17% from its October low point. It took over a year, until January 2024, for the index to reach a new record high.
The Transformation: AI Enthusiasm Fuels Market Soar.
The S&P 500 has jumped by approximately 68% since ChatGPT came out, increasing from about 4,080 to 6,850 in late November 2025. Artificial intelligence is the main driver of the rally’s success.
JPMorgan’s analysis indicates that AI stocks have contributed 75% of the S&P 500’s returns and 80% of its earnings expansion since November 2022.
Half of the S&P 500’s value comes from these seven companies: Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Broadcom, often called the “Magnificent Seven.”
Since OpenAI released ChatGPT, Nvidia’s returns have been about 980%, placing it among the top three performers in the index.
OpenAI: From $14 Billion to $500 Billion
OpenAI may be the best example of the AI boom’s significance. The company had a $14 billion valuation 18 months before the launch of ChatGPT.
It is now worth $500 billion, making it the most valuable private company globally, even more valuable than SpaceX. Even though OpenAI is still private, its value has increased 35 times.
This remarkable valuation was officially confirmed by the company’s October 2025 secondary share sale.
OpenAI has also demonstrated remarkable revenue growth, earning roughly $4.3 billion in the first six months of 2025. This is roughly 16% greater than its total revenue for 2024.
With 800 million active users each week, ChatGPT has experienced much growth, starting from 100 million users shortly after its release.
Sustainability is the next big challenge.
With the AI boom in its fourth year, the question of whether it can last continues. There’s worry about a bubble because just a few companies are seeing most of the gains.
Stocks from the Magnificent Seven now make up over a third of the S&P 500’s total value. This is more concentrated than it was during the dot-com boom.
Goldman Sachs has cautioned that the U.S.’s largest spare power generation capacity has dropped from 26% five years ago to 19%.
And could go below the “critically tight” 15% mark by 2030 if AI’s current growth trend persists.
Also, economists warn that the “two-track or K economy” could face greater instability if the trend of wealth concentration remains. A stark divergence between sectors and individuals connected to artificial intelligence and those that are not.
At the moment, there are not many indications that the rise of AI infrastructure will slow down. One analyst noted that ChatGPT “offered a catalyst to turn around one of the lousiest market environments investors had been dealing with since the financial crisis,” marking more than just a technological shift.
