ChatGPT’s popularity don’t grow anymore

Apptopia, a analytics company, has published data showing that the use of the mobile version of ChatGPT has been declining since around the beginning of September this year.

As of the second half of October, the number of ChatGPT downloads worldwide had decreased by more than 8% compared to September. At the same time, US users are spending less and less time in the app: since July, the average activity time per user per day has decreased by 22.5%.

Analysts note that this is not only due to the fact that users have become more efficient in interacting with AI. Both the total time spent in the app and the number of sessions are falling. However, millions of people around the world continue to download ChatGPT every day. It is important to note that Apptopia’s data refers only to mobile devices and does not include users using ChatGPT from computers.

The study shows that the period of explosive growth in popularity of ChatGPT is gradually passing. More and more investors are expressing concerns about the “AI bubble,” and some experts believe that the current focus on large language models may be misguided.

In addition, the latest version of GPT-5 has not made the expected impression. According to recent reports, it has shown the worst security performance than its predecessor, GPT-4o. According to the Financial Times, paid subscribers to ChatGPT provide about 70% of OpenAI’s annual revenue, but such users only make up about 5% of the total audience.

Despite OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s claims that ChatGPT has 800 million users worldwide, most of them prefer the free version. Disappointments with recent updates and the emergence of alternatives such as Google Gemini are fueling user churn.

Experts suggest that OpenAI will have to find new ways to engage its audience and motivate them to subscribe. The company recently announced that it will allow ChatGPT to generate adult content, and also introduced its own AI browser, Atlas, which turns ChatGPT into a full-fledged search engine.

Interestingly, in California, a woman named Lynn White used ChatGPT instead of a lawyer in court and was able to overturn an eviction order and tens of thousands of dollars in fines, which only confirms that, despite the decline in interest, the technology is still actively used in real life.