The exponential growth of the AI industry, and which tools are leading the way in shaping our digital future? A recent in-depth analysis by Sujan Sarkar of Writerbuddy examined the growth of the AI industry from September 2022 to August 2023. This research included a comprehensive set of more than 3,000 AI tools, which led to some remarkable findings.
During this period, the rise of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, was particularly noteworthy, revealing a deeper exploration of its impact on the digital future. ChatGPT has accumulated 14 billion visits, firmly establishing its position at the forefront of the AI space. Notably, ChatGPT accounted for 60% of the total traffic among the top 50 AI tools during this period, underscoring its dominance and the potential of natural language processing to shape digital interactions.
While ChatGPT's rise is undeniably impressive, it is not the only contender in this rapidly evolving landscape. Character AI and Google Bard have also made significant strides, with Character AI experiencing net traffic growth of 463.4 million and Google Bard accumulating 68 million visits. These achievements highlight the continued potential for innovation and competition within the AI ecosystem, opening up avenues yet to be explored for the benefit of users and businesses.
However, the AI industry is not without its challenges. Some tools, such as Craiyon, MidJourney, and Quillbot, experienced significant declines in traffic during this period. This serves as a reminder that in the dynamic world of AI, maintaining a competitive edge is no small feat and requires constant innovation and adaptation.
The AI industry experienced remarkable growth, expanding 10.7x and adding an average of 236.3 million visits per month. The United States contributed 22.62% of the visits (5.5 billion), while Europe accounted for 3.9 billion. There was a notable gender gap in the user base, with 69.5% male users compared to 30.5% female users. Most users, 63%, accessed AI tools on mobile devices.
Writerbuddy's use of SEMrush, an SEO tool, for data collection and analysis. It provides an insightful perspective on the digital footprint of the AI industry.
Leading 10 AI Tools with Notable Traffic Growth in the Past Year
ChatGPT: Launched in November 2022, it quickly dominated with 14.6 billion visits over 10 months, averaging 1.5 billion monthly.
Character AI: Introduced in September 2022, it captivated users, accumulating 3.8 billion visits and surging by 463.4 million within a year.
Google Bard: Google's March 2023 entry saw a remarkable 241.6 million visits in just 6 months.
Janitor AI: A unique chatbot from May 2023, it experienced a quick rise with 192.4 million visits in 4 months.
Perplexity AI: Established by ex-Google staff in August 2022, it progressed rapidly, drawing 134.3 million users in 9 months.
Civitai: An AI art hub since November 2022, it climbed to 177.2 million visits within 10 months.
Leonardo AI: From December 2022, this visual asset tool became a creator's choice, gathering 101.6 million visits over 9 months.
ElevenLabs: With advanced voice AI since October 2022, it attracted 88.6 million users in 11 months.
CapCut: An established video tool from April 2020, it consistently pulled 203.8 million visits in the past year.
Cutout.pro: An AI content tool from 2018, it maintained its grip with 133.5 million users over the year.
Leading 5 AI Tools with Noticeable Traffic Loss in the Past Year
Craiyon: Between September 2022 and August 2023, Craiyon.com, an AI image generator, lost 15 million visits, possibly due to growing competition. They averaged 10.7M monthly, with a monthly drop of 1.4M.
MidJourney: Another AI image tool, MidJourney, launched in July 2022, faced an 8.66 million visitor dip over the year. Despite a strong 41.7M monthly average, they saw a monthly decline of 787.7K.
Quillbot: An established AI writing tool, Quillbot lost 5 million visits in 12 months, perhaps due to rising chatbot rivals. Still, they held a robust 94.6M monthly traffic, with a 461.4K monthly drop.
Jasper: An early AI writing platform, Jasper's traffic decreased by 1.27 million visits over the year, possibly affected by giants like ChatGPT. They averaged 7.9M monthly and faced a 115.1K monthly loss.
Zyro: An AI-enhanced website builder, Zyro saw a 1.09 million visitor decline in 12 months, potentially due to growing AI feature competitors. They recorded a 5M monthly average and a decline of 99.4K each month.
Essentially, this analysis tells us that the AI industry is in a state of perpetual evolution. From 241.8 million visits in September 2022 to a staggering 2.8 billion visits in August 2023, it has grown at an average monthly rate of 236.3 million visits. The journey has been marked by milestones, including ChatGPT's meteoric rise to 1 million users in just five days, which propelled the industry to its peak of 4.1 billion visits in May 2023. Despite subsequent fluctuations, the second half of the year maintained an impressive average of 3.3 billion monthly visits. This trend underscores the tremendous potential for financial growth.
Source: Analysis by Sujan Sarkar at writerbuddy
