ChatGPT Increasingly Abandoned as Users Flock to Its Replacements

The heyday of ChatGPT, which has long dominated the AI chatbot market, appears to be fading. Its market share has dropped below 50 per cent for the first time, a clear sign that many users are switching to other platforms such as Google’s Gemini or Anthropic’s Claude.

For several years, ChatGPT was the most recognisable name and the primary benchmark in conversational AI technology. Launched by OpenAI, the service quickly captured widespread public attention, from students and professionals to technology developers, due to its ability to answer questions, compose text, and assist with various daily tasks.

However, the trend is now changing. More people are leaving ChatGPT and turning to alternatives that offer more specific features, better performance, or even cheaper and free access.

There are several main reasons behind this shift. Firstly, competition in the AI industry is intensifying. Many large technology companies and independent developers are releasing similar services with their own advantages. Some services are claimed to be more accurate in providing answers, some process requests faster, and others are specifically designed for particular needs such as education, business, or creative writing.

Secondly, concerns have arisen among users regarding data policies, privacy, and feature limitations imposed by OpenAI. Some users feel other services are more flexible or transparent in managing their personal data, an important consideration amid growing public awareness of information security.

Thirdly, continuous innovation from competitors has enabled them to catch up. Many new services not only mimic ChatGPT’s basic capabilities but also add previously unavailable features, such as better integration with other applications, broader language support, and improved image and voice processing abilities.

Nevertheless, this decline in market share does not yet signify the complete end of ChatGPT’s role. The service remains one of the major players and still retains a large user base.

At its inception, ChatGPT made a splash as the fastest application to reach 1 billion monthly users. As of February 2026, according to Sensor Tower, ChatGPT had 1.1 billion monthly users, followed by Gemini with 662 million and Claude with 245 million.

However, the data also shows a significant shift. In January, ChatGPT still commanded 50 per cent of the market. By the end of May, its market share had fallen to 46.4 per cent. This decline was accompanied by a rise in its competitors, especially Gemini, which now controls 27.7 per cent of the market.

In the first half of 2026, Sensor Tower stated that the number of AI app downloads worldwide had approached 2.3 billion. AI app users were also recorded as willing to spend US$4.2 billion in the same period. This expenditure rose sharply from the US$1.83 billion spent on AI apps in the first half of 2025.

Usage time has also multiplied. Sensor Tower estimates users worldwide spent 36 billion hours in the first half of 2026, up from 17.2 billion hours in the same period the previous year.

For technology observers, this change is a natural part of the industry’s development. Like other technologies that once experienced a golden age before being caught up and surpassed by competitors, ChatGPT must now fight harder to maintain its position. Users now have more choices, meaning they can select the service that best suits their individual needs and preferences.

Soon after ChatGPT’s massive success, competition emerged directly. In early 2023, Microsoft launched Copilot (initially Bing Chat), which integrated AI capabilities into its search engine and popular Office applications.

Not long after, Google released Gemini, developed specifically to compete directly, with advantages in processing images, video, and current information.

The startup Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI employees, also arrived with Claude. Claude is known for handling very long documents and being safer for business use.

Meanwhile, technology companies from China are also actively developing alternatives. In early 2023, Baidu launched Wenxin Yiyan (Ernie Bot) as one of the first from the Bamboo Curtain country, followed by Alibaba with its Tongyi Qianwen model, and Zhipu AI with ChatGLM, popular for its language capabilities and open-source system.

In 2024-2025, new and increasingly formidable names emerged. DeepSeek became famous for excellent programming and logic abilities at low cost, while Qwen from Alibaba is now considered on par or even superior in some tests compared to Western services, and Kimi excels at reading and analysing large files.

Additionally, ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, released Doubao in China. Like TikTok, the chatbot uses a different name for the international market: Dola.