SAN FRANCISCO ― OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, experienced a decline in website traffic and unique visitors in June, suggesting the novelty may be wearing off. However, some analysts interpret the data as indicating a growing demand for generative AI.
ChatGPT, the highly popular AI chatbot introduced in November, experienced a decline in its website’s monthly traffic and unique visitors for the first time in June, as reported by Similarweb, an analytics firm.
Globally, the desktop and mobile traffic to the ChatGPT website witnessed a decrease of 9.7 per cent in June compared to May, while the number of unique visitors to the website dropped by 5.7 per cent.
Additionally, the data reveals that visitors spent 8.5 per cent less time on the website.
According to Similarweb’s Senior Insights Manager David Carr, the decline in traffic suggests that the novelty of the chatbot is diminishing.
On the other hand, Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, interprets the data as indicating a growing demand for generative AI that provides real-time information.
Since its launch, ChatGPT has ignited a frenzy of generative AI usage in various daily tasks, including writing and coding. In just two months after its introduction, it amassed an impressive 100 million monthly active users in January.
Notably, ChatGPT has achieved an unprecedented rate of growth and currently enjoys over 1.5 billion monthly visits, securing a position among the top 20 websites globally.
Its success is exemplified by surpassing the popularity of Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, which incorporates OpenAI’s technology.
Recently, several competitors to ChatGPT, such as Google’s Bard chatbot, have emerged in the market. Additionally, Microsoft’s search engine Bing offers a free chatbot powered by OpenAI to its users.
“I think there are growing pains when you go from zero to 100 million users that quickly. The extraordinarily heavy infrastructure would result in less accuracy. It is a combination of having to change what the model is trained on and having to deal with the potential implications of regulation,” said Sarah Hindlian-Bowler, head of Technology Research Americas at Macquarie.
In May, OpenAI launched the ChatGPT app on the iOS platform, potentially diverting traffic from its website.
The app’s popularity has been attributed, in part, to the summer break for schools, resulting in fewer students seeking homework assistance.
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