ChatGPT saw its first-ever decline in users in June
Mobile and desktop traffic to the chatbot's website was down almost 10% from the previous month.
After a meteoric rise in popularity late last year and early 2023, it looks like OpenAI's chatbot is starting to run out of steam. According to internet data analytics firm Similarweb shared with The Washington Post, last month mobile and desktop traffic to the ChatGPT website dropped 9.7% globally. If Similarweb's data is accurate, the drop marks the first time the chatbot has seen a user decline. In June, app tracker Sensor Tower also saw ChatGPT's iOS client downloads plummet after peaking earlier in the month. OpenAI did not immediately respond to Engadget's request for comment.
The declining interest in ChatGPT seems to be part of an industry trend. Figures from Similarweb show that fewer people are visiting desktop and mobile websites for Microsoft Bing, Google Bard and Character.AI in recent months. Microsoft, for example, saw traffic to its search engine increase between February and March when Bing AI became available for public preview. Since then, monthly traffic to the website has steadily declined, almost returning to levels it had before Microsoft revamped Bing around GPT-4. Separately, Similarweb reports seeing a decline in ChatGPT engagement, with user minutes down 8.5% in May 2023.
As to what might be driving the decline, The Post suggests that the end of the school year might have something to do with it. With most college students on summer break, it's assumed that there aren't as many young adults using ChatGPT to write their articles. Another reason could be that companies like Samsung are banning employees from using AI chatbots out of a very real fear of possible data leakage. Whatever the reason for the decline, you can bet no one at OpenAI is freaking out. On the contrary, the research lab is probably happy to see fewer people using the public version of ChatGPT. CEO Sam Altman said the service costs OpenAI a "mind-blowing" amount to operate.
Mobile and desktop traffic to the chatbot's website was down almost 10% from the previous month.
After a meteoric rise in popularity late last year and early 2023, it looks like OpenAI's chatbot is starting to run out of steam. According to internet data analytics firm Similarweb shared with The Washington Post, last month mobile and desktop traffic to the ChatGPT website dropped 9.7% globally. If Similarweb's data is accurate, the drop marks the first time the chatbot has seen a user decline. In June, app tracker Sensor Tower also saw ChatGPT's iOS client downloads plummet after peaking earlier in the month. OpenAI did not immediately respond to Engadget's request for comment.
The declining interest in ChatGPT seems to be part of an industry trend. Figures from Similarweb show that fewer people are visiting desktop and mobile websites for Microsoft Bing, Google Bard and Character.AI in recent months. Microsoft, for example, saw traffic to its search engine increase between February and March when Bing AI became available for public preview. Since then, monthly traffic to the website has steadily declined, almost returning to levels it had before Microsoft revamped Bing around GPT-4. Separately, Similarweb reports seeing a decline in ChatGPT engagement, with user minutes down 8.5% in May 2023.
As to what might be driving the decline, The Post suggests that the end of the school year might have something to do with it. With most college students on summer break, it's assumed that there aren't as many young adults using ChatGPT to write their articles. Another reason could be that companies like Samsung are banning employees from using AI chatbots out of a very real fear of possible data leakage. Whatever the reason for the decline, you can bet no one at OpenAI is freaking out. On the contrary, the research lab is probably happy to see fewer people using the public version of ChatGPT. CEO Sam Altman said the service costs OpenAI a "mind-blowing" amount to operate.
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