Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has transcended being a simple trend to establish itself as a 'daily app.' In particular, OpenAI's ChatGPT has risen to compete with existing big tech services across various metrics, including average days of use, stay duration, and platform scalability. Usage patterns that traverse the boundaries of search, community, and content consumption have become similar to Google, indicating that text-based generative AI is expanding into a practical consumer platform.
According to a report by market research firm Sensor Tower on the 31st, the global monthly average days of use for ChatGPT was recorded at 13.2 days for the second quarter of this year. It has practically established itself as a key app ranking just below Google (18.6 days), surpassing major social apps like Reddit (12.2 days) and Threads (9.5 days). In terms of days of use alone, there is not much difference compared to X (formerly Twitter) at 13.7 days, and the average daily usage time has reached 16 minutes, narrowing the gap with the average of search and browser apps (18.2 minutes) to 2.2 minutes.
As of mid-2023, ChatGPT's average monthly days of use was around 5 days, but it has rapidly increased this year, securing user loyalty comparable to that of X. It is now analyzed not just as a simple generative AI tool, but as having a steady place as a genuine mobile consumer app. Among generative AI apps, it ranks first in terms of in-app revenue in most countries except for China.
The scope of ChatGPT's application is also rapidly expanding. In the second quarter of this year, more than one-third of prompts entered into ChatGPT were focused on lifestyle and entertainment areas such as healthcare, financial management, shopping, and cooking. Its functionality is expanding beyond simple information retrieval or writing assistance to provide personalized advice and real-life services.
The usage paths have also diversified. In the U.S., more than 15% of ChatGPT users have been using both mobile and web versions simultaneously. This is a higher figure compared to major platforms like Temu and Threads.
Sensor Tower noted, "The weekend usage rate of ChatGPT is increasing, which indicates that people are utilizing this app as a major tool in their daily lives beyond just work," adding, "This change is a sign that ChatGPT's usage pattern is shifting to include both weekdays and weekends, similar to Google."
Meanwhile, the overall market for generative AI apps, including ChatGPT, is rapidly growing. In the first half of this year, the total number of downloads for generative AI apps worldwide, such as CharacterAI, DeepSeek, Perplexity, and PollyBuzz, reached 1.7 billion, up about 70% from the second half of last year (1 billion). The in-app payment revenue has nearly doubled in the same period from $932 million (1.2958 trillion won) to $1.87 billion (2.6 trillion won). The total session count, representing the cumulative number of app launches, reached 426 billion, with usage time increasing by 83% to 15.6 billion hours. Regionally, Asia emerged as the largest market, accounting for 42.6% of total downloads, driven by growth in India and China. The download growth rate in Asia reached 80%, significantly outpacing Europe (51%) and North America (39%).
The keyword generative AI itself has become a major marketing strategy. In the first half of this year, the number of times the term AI appeared in app descriptions exceeded 100,000, and apps that included the AI keyword in their names or descriptions recorded a total of 7.5 billion downloads, accounting for about 10% of total app downloads. Sensor Tower stated, "Apps that include terms like AI or LLM (large language model) in their names or descriptions tend to experience a download increase effect for several months afterward."