ChatGPT has reportedly reached unprecedented levels of success just two months after its launch. The ever-popular artificial intelligence chatbot has hit another milestone by reaching 100 million users just two months after launching, according to analysts. This makes it the fastest-growing consumer application in history.
This means that ChatGPT has been adopted more quickly than even TikTok or Meta-owned (META) Instagram. TikTok took nine months to reach 100 million monthly active users, while Instagram took 30 months to hit the same benchmark.
Data from analytics firm Similarweb shows that an average of 13 million unique visitors used ChatGPT daily in January, doubling the levels from December. This success has impressed even industry experts, with UBS analysts stating, “In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app.”
Analysts at investment bank UBS said the rate of growth was unprecedented for a consumer app.
The launch of ChatGPT has given OpenAI a significant edge over other AI companies. This head start is expected to give the AI valuable feedback to continue training the chatbot’s responses. Despite conducting mass layoffs, Microsoft recently announced a multi-billion-dollar investment in OpenAI. This highlights the importance of AI for the tech giant.
Additionally, the conversational AI app’s popularity has been widely spoken about as a threat to the dominance of Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). Though the talk of ChatGPT as a full-fledged “Google killer” is likely overblown, UBS’ analysts believe that the app’s success has put Google in a bind.
“Google is in a catch-22, where it either (1) fails to impress, feeding questions around competitive position or (2) it overcommits, causing concern around (i) monetization risk and (ii) margin erosion,” they wrote.
OpenAI announced a $20 monthly subscription called “ChatGPT Plus”, initially for users in the United States only. It would provide a more stable and faster service as well as the opportunity to try new features first, the company said. OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco, said the subscription revenue would help cover the computing cost.
There’s a chance people will buy in, especially if ChatGPT continues to gain momentum – quite simply, right now, people are talking about it and searching for it, of course, on Google.
“Google Trends data shows that worldwide Google search queries for the terms ‘chatgpt’ and ‘chat gpt’ are near peak volumes since the site was launched in November 2022.
Analysts believe the viral launch of ChatGPT will give OpenAI a great advantage over other AI companies. They have also recently put out products like DALL-E2 in the past, an AI that can create images and art from descriptions by users, and Codex, a system that converts written words into code.