ChatGPT Experiences Decrease in Traffic for the First Time Ever Due to AI Fatigue

Is the world starting to lose interest in artificial intelligence? Despite businesses continuing to release new AI products regularly, it seems that individuals are becoming less enthusiastic about this major tech trend of 2023. A significant indication of AI fatigue was observed when ChatGPT, OpenAI’s widely-used generative AI platform, experienced a decline in website traffic for the first time since its launch.

According to a Likeweb report, ChatGPT’s global traffic fell 9.7 percent from May to June. The number of individual visitors also decreased by 5.7 percent in June. The scenario was even worse in the US, where the decline was 10.3 percent month-on-month. “The time visitors spent on the website also decreased by 8.5 percent,” the report added.

ChatGPT site traffic is down

A closer look at the data shows that since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, it has grown steadily, with the busiest month being February-March, when monthly traffic rose from 10 billion to 15 billion. In April and May, the growth slowed down gradually, even though the platform was constantly getting more unique visitors.

While early estimates had ChatGPT poised to break the 20 billion monthly traffic mark, that now appears to be a distant dream.

Time spent on the website was also similar, with six minutes being the average posting time, with a peak of over 8 minutes in March. It currently sits at just under 8 minutes.

The drop in traffic has not only affected ChatGPT but also Character.ai, the world’s second largest AI platform. After reaching its peak in May, Character.AI also saw a decline in May-June. But interestingly, Character.AI beats ChatGPT massively in terms of engagement, with a website visit time of 25.4 minutes compared to 8.5.

These data points paint a troubling picture for companies obsessing over AI and building new user-centric tools without considering the possibility that the world could have moved on.