ChatGPT Is Eating the Internet: OpenAI Commands 80% of AI Market

The most recent traffic information from Similarweb exposes an uneasy reality about the generative AI market: While the world arguments which AI design is technically exceptional, ChatGPT has actually currently won the user adoption war by a margin so large it defies standard competitors metrics.

With 5.5 billion check outs in Might 2025, ChatGPT commands approximately 80% of all generative AI traffic. To comprehend this scale: ChatGPT gets more check outs than Google’s Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, Perplexity, and Claude integrated. Then doubled. Then include another couple of millions for great procedure.

ChatGPT rose previous 500 million weekly active users in late March, and ChatGPT’s mobile app currently balanced more than 250 million regular monthly active users in between September and November 2024. OpenAI’s collaboration with Microsoft has actually definitely assisted, however the scale recommends something more essential: ChatGPT has actually ended up being the default AI assistant for numerous countless users worldwide.

What’s especially intriguing is ChatGPT’s durability. In spite of a quick dip in traffic throughout early 2025, OpenAI rapidly reversed the pattern, rising back to brand-new heights.

China’s DeepSeek: Neither gone nor forgotten

Another unexpected information point: Chinese start-up DeepSeek– prohibited on a lot of U.S. government-issued gadgets and numerous organizations due to fears its feeding details to China– soared from 33.7 million regular monthly users in January to 436 million check outs by Might. That’s a 13x boost that would make investor weep salted tears.

Though OpenAI raised billions of dollars to collect as numerous GPUs as possible to sustain its designs, DeepSeek runs at a portion of the expense of Western designs; its input tokens cost $0.55 versus OpenAI’s $15. The tough upstart accomplished this while being required to utilize lower Nvidia H800 chips due to export constraints, the computational equivalent of winning a Formula 1 race with a Toyota Corolla.

DeepSeek’s geographical supremacy informs the story: DeepSeek is constructing an empire in markets that Western AI business have actually hardly touched. The leading 3 markets, according to Similarweb– China, India, and Indonesia– represent over 51% of its users.

The very best of the rest: Google and Anthropic

For a $2 trillion business that processes 3.5 billion searches daily, Google’s AI efficiency is quite pedestrian. Gemini’s 527.7 million check outs hardly edge out DeepSeek regardless of every possible benefit: billions in financing, combination throughout Google’s community, and access to more users than any platform in the world– plus a monopolization of the AI web browser and collaborations with significant brand names to enhance the design’s adoption.

Still, it must not be suspended: Gemini taped 284 million check outs in February, which suggests the design is growing in appeal– a great metric if it ends up being a pattern, considering its existing state.

Maybe the most unanticipated finding is Claude’s bad efficiency. In spite of backing from Amazon and Google, technical supremacy in numerous criteria, and continuous appreciation from AI scientists and individuals in Academic community, Claude brought in a bit less than 100 million check outs in Might 2025.

Claude had 18.9 million regular monthly active users worldwide since early 2025, and while the rise is certainly a significant boost in traffic, these numbers fade in contrast to ChatGPT’s billions.

The detach in between Claude’s technical abilities and user adoption is intriguing. Claude 4 Opus scored much better than its competitors at complicated thinking and even imaginative jobs, yet it has actually stopped working to equate this into mass adoption, revealing yet once again that the very best item isn’t typically the one everybody enjoys.

While Meta AI exists, its existing use as a main AI tool might be substantially lower compared to ChatGPT. Numerous users do not presently gravitate towards Zuck’s chatbot as their favored option for AI-related jobs.

Meta’s substantial contribution to the open-source neighborhood, especially through its Llama designs, is noteworthy. Nevertheless, the nature of open-source use stands out from direct user interaction.

The AI-powered bloodbath

While AI business defend position, conventional web organizations are seeing their empires collapse. For instance, Similarweb reports that Chegg’s traffic collapsed 64% as trainees found ChatGPT offers much better research assistance free of charge, Quora dropped 51%, and freelance platforms like Fiverr dropped 14%.

On the other hand, DevOps and code conclusion tools rose 41% year-over-year, voice generation platforms grew 14%, and automation tools leapt 12%.

The Similarweb information provides a harsh reality to the AI market: technical supremacy suggests bit without user adoption. Claude might impress scientists, however ChatGPT impresses everybody else. Gemini might have Google’s circulation, however circulation without distinction is not intriguing.

ChatGPT won by being initially, sufficing, and most significantly, being what users in fact desired– a conversational AI that simply works. While rivals concentrated on benchmark ratings and security procedures, ChatGPT concentrated on working. The 5.5 billion check outs state that method worked.

So OpenAI might lose in some criteria, however in the race for worldwide adoption, it has actually currently crossed the goal. The genuine competitors now is for 2nd location.

Modified by Andrew Hayward