Gemini and Chat GPT passed the number of one billion users globally

ChatGPT was the first to break the ice, but with slower growth

OpenAI’s ChatGPT crossed the 1 billion user mark before Google, although the company announced the news rather discreetly, almost casually. In an otherwise unremarkable blog about the ways people use artificial intelligence, they stated that “over a billion people use ChatGPT for work”. Independent data, such as those from analytics firm Sensor Tower, suggest the app surpassed one billion monthly active users (MAU) back in May, a record speed for any mobile app. The company itself confirmed that it had reached one billion weekly active users (WAU) in July.

However, the metrics and the growth they represent here are somewhat complex and do not tell the whole story. OpenAI announced in February of this year that it had 900 million weekly active users, and reaching a billion five months later represents a significant slowdown in growth for a product that has long been known as the fastest growing software in history. OpenAI spokeswoman Lindsay McCallum said ChatGPT passed 1 billion monthly users “some time ago,” but the company declined to disclose the exact number, further complicating a direct comparison with competitors.

Google’s integration strategy and the Android advantage

On the other hand, Google showed a clear and arrow-shaped growth path. In February, they reported 750 million monthly users for Gemini, and at the end of July on the earnings call, they announced a figure of 950 million. According to spokesperson Alex Joseph, the one billion user mark was broken last week. Although it is difficult to directly compare weekly and monthly users, the simplest interpretation is that ChatGPT is still the bigger platform, but Gemini may be growing faster at the moment.

The key thing to note is that Google’s numbers, as they appear, refer directly to the Gemini app itself. This means that this statistic does not include the many places where Google has integrated Gemini into its other products, such as AI chats in search or other AI features in Workspace. However, the figure apparently includes Gemini that comes pre-installed on Android phones, which is a huge strategic advantage for Google. The head of Gemini, Josh Woodward, announced that Gemini has more than one hundred million active users on iOS, which indirectly confirms that the vast majority of users are actually Android users. It becomes much clearer why OpenAI is so interested in developing its own hardware to reduce its dependence on other platforms.

The new phase of the race: monetization, competition and regulation

The race in the field of artificial intelligence has intensified significantly this year. The emergence of models like Claude from Anthropic, which has tens of millions of users and a high percentage of growth, has become a phenomenon and forced OpenAI to accelerate development. At the same time, Meta AI is also experiencing strong growth, further fragmenting the market. Google, for its part, is aggressively integrating Gemini into almost every corner of its products. The models of these companies constantly surpass each other in performance, and now they all face competition from models coming from China. For a long time, ChatGPT was synonymous with AI chatbots, and while it’s still arguably the most popular, its once-dominant edge has largely melted away, according to The Verge.

While the race for one billion users is over, now a new, powerful and difficult battle begins. Companies must compete to find concrete and useful applications for these users and, more importantly, a way to make money in the process. Huge investments, such as the recent funding round in which OpenAI provided capital that values ​​the company at $122 billion, show how high the stakes are. At the same time, regulatory pressure is growing. OpenAI is moreć is facing investigations and subpoenas in the US due to security and user protection, which signals that the path to commercialization will be accompanied by increased government oversight.