ChatGPT, the OpanAI chatbot, leads the AI traffic industry with 14 billion visits, accounting for 60% of the total 24 billion visits to the top 50 AI tools. This is according to a recent in-depth analysis by writerbuddy.ai, covering over 3,000 AI tools. The data covers the period between September 2022 to August 2023.
With over 24 billion visits generated by just the top 50 AI tools during this period, there was an average monthly growth of 236.3 million visits. Also, the AI industry saw an average of 2 billion visits monthly over the past year, with a surge to 3.3 billion in the last 6 months.
When evaluated based on the gender of the users, the report showed that AI tool usage by gender data records a notable disparity: 69.5% of the users are male while 30.5% are female. This highlights a gender gap in utilising these AI tools, which could also stem from underlying differences in tech roles.
Read also: ChatGPT traffic drops for 3rd straight month, records 1.43bn worldwide visits in August
The remarkable impact of ChatGPT on the AI industry
The AI industry experienced a remarkable 10.7x growth rate in traffic over the study period, with an average monthly increase of 236.3 million visits. The journey started in September 2022, with 241.8 million visits generated by the analysed tools. The momentum continued to build with the launch of ChatGPT in November, after which it became the fastest-ever platform to reach 1 million users (in just 5 days).
The numbers then culminated in a spectacular 2.8 billion visits in August 2023. This astounding increase of 2.6 billion visits in just 12 months underscores the incredible pace of the AI industry’s growth.
The journey was not without its ups and downs, with ChatGPT’s rapid rise from 1 million users in November 2022 to a peak of 4.1 billion visits in May 2023 However, the industry experienced a pullback of 1.2 billion visits after this peak. Despite this, the average monthly traffic over the entire period was a substantial 2 billion visits, with the last 6 months witnessing an even higher average of 3.3 billion visits per month.
US, India and South American countries lead AI usage
With an aim to delve deep into the AI industry’s behaviour, analysing traffic patterns, demographics, trends, and consumer behaviour, Writterbuddy used SEMrush, a renowned tool in the SEO industry, and studied over 3,000 AI tools by scraping data from various directories that list AI tools. From these, it isolated the top 50 most visited tools, which reflect over 80% of the AI industry’s traffic over the studied period (September 2022 to August 2023).
Among the insightful statistics uncovered, the report also revealed that the US, with its tech dominance, unsurprisingly leads in AI traffic at 5.5 billion visits, despite its smaller population. Following closely is tech-savvy India, with 2.1 billion visits.
Meanwhile, countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil hover around the 1.3 to 1.4 billion mark. Strikingly, China, with its vast populace, is not in the top 20—perhaps a nod to its native AI innovations and regulatory stance. On the other hand, Europe, encompassing the robust tech hubs of the EU, lags behind, possibly wary of stringent AI regulations.
This European caution isn’t new but has been a consistent narrative since 2008, with a hint of growing interest. Unsurprisingly, no African country made the top 20 on the AI traffic list.
Channels through which people accessed AI tools
As per the channel through which they accessed these sites, a vast 80.53% of AI tool users access them directly, indicating loyal or recurring users. The organic search follows at 11.40%, showcasing strong SEO practises.
Referrals make up 6.73%, likely from partnerships or user recommendations. Despite AI’s prominence on social platforms, organic social accounts for a mere 1.02%, hinting at untapped potential. Both paid search and other channels have a negligible presence, hinting at minimal ad spend for these tools.
Here are the 10 best AI tools based on the number of visits from Sep 2022 to Aug 2023.
- ChatGPT
- Character AI
- QuillBot
- Midjourney
- Hugging Face
- Google Bard
- NovelAI
- CapCut
- JanitorAI
- Civitai
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