● According to fresh data from Similarweb shared by Barchart, the AI chatbot market has gotten a lot more crowded over the past year. ChatGPT's slice of the pie has dropped from 87.1% to 74.1% — still dominant, but no longer untouchable. Google's Gemini has climbed to 12.9%, and Perplexity AI just crossed the 2% mark, proving that users are now shopping around.
● What's driving this shift? Competition is heating up. Gemini offers slick multimodal features, while Perplexity delivers AI-powered search that feels more like research than chat. OpenAI's early advantage is being tested, and the company may need to lean harder into enterprise deals and API services to keep momentum. The immediate worry is user loyalty — people are splitting their time between multiple AI tools instead of sticking with one.
● From a money perspective, ChatGPT's shrinking share could hit OpenAI's subscription and API income. Meanwhile, platforms like Gemini, DeepSeek, and Claude are pulling attention (and potentially investment dollars) toward diversified AI ecosystems. To stay competitive, these companies might push deeper integrations with everyday productivity tools to keep users hooked.
● The bigger picture? This isn't a collapse — it's maturation. Total AI usage is still growing, but the one-player dominance era looks over. DeepSeek, Claude, and Grok hold smaller but steady audiences, while Microsoft Copilot carves out its spot with developers and professionals.
ChatGPT continues to lose share, while Perplexity exceeds 2.0%. As @Similarweb notes via @barchart
● Heading into 2025, the race between OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and upstarts like DeepSeek will shape where generative AI goes next.
Peter Smith
Peter Smith