The Top artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT has seen a decline in user traffic worldwide for the third consecutive month this August, according to data from analytics company Similarweb.
In August, the number of people visiting OpenAI’s popular chatbot on both desktop and mobile websites worldwide dropped by 3.2%, totaling 1.43 billion visitors. This decline follows a 10% decrease in traffic two months earlier. Additionally, the amount of time users spent on the site also decreased slightly from 8.7 minutes to 7 minutes in August.
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However, there was a positive trend in visits from users based in the United States, which increased by 0.4% in August. Unique visitors to the site, which had been on a decline in June and July, went up by 3% in the U.S. and 0.3% worldwide during August.
David F. Carr, a senior insights manager at Similarweb who closely monitors AI chatbots and authored the report, suggests that these fluctuations in users could be attributed to students using the chatbot during their summer break and then returning to use it when their classes resumed.
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Carr’s theory gains support from the fact that there was a decrease in the number of younger users on the website during the summer months, and this demographic is now showing signs of recovery.
This pattern is reflected in the data, particularly for users aged 18 to 24 in the U.S. Their traffic dropped by 10% in May, around the time when U.S. universities typically conclude their semesters, followed by a 15% drop in June and an additional 4% drop in July. In April, this age group accounted for a significant 30% of the total audience share in the United States.
A separate survey conducted in May 2023 by Intelligent.com, which involved 1,223 undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S., found that 30% of them had used ChatGPT for their schoolwork during the academic year. Among these students, 46% reported frequent usage of the tool for homework, and 1 in 8 students claimed that their GPA had improved as a result of using the AI chatbot.
Currently, there are no comprehensive regulations governing the use of AI in U.S. universities. However, in Japan, the Ministry of Education has expressed intentions to permit limited use of generative AI tools in elementary, junior high, and high schools.
