ChatGPT currently boasts over 500 million weekly active users, with its mobile app attracting 250 million monthly users last autumn.

DeepSeek, a Chinese startup launched in early 2025, has seen remarkable growth, increasing its monthly visits from 33.7 million to 436 million in just four months.

ChatGPT has solidified its position as the leading AI assistant, achieving an impressive 5.5 billion visits in May 2025, which represents about 80% of the global generative AI traffic.

This dominance in the generative AI market is underscored by its significant lead over competitors like Gemini and Claude, which have struggled to gain traction.

The platform's success can be attributed to its user-friendly design, strategic partnerships, and seamless integration into everyday tools, particularly through its collaboration with Microsoft.

OpenAI's commanding presence has shifted the competitive focus, with other companies now vying for the second spot rather than challenging ChatGPT's lead.

In fact, ChatGPT's traffic exceeds that of its nearest competitors combined, more than doubling the visits of Google’s Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, Perplexity, and Claude.

This current AI landscape highlights the importance of not just technical performance but also user accessibility and loyalty, where ChatGPT excels.

Meanwhile, competitors like DeepSeek, which operates at a lower cost using older Nvidia chips, are expanding rapidly in Asian markets, particularly in China, India, and Indonesia.

This rapid expansion is facilitated by DeepSeek's operational costs being 30 times lower than those of OpenAI, showcasing a trend towards efficiency in the AI market.

Despite their technical superiority, competitors like Claude 4 Opus have struggled with user adoption, only achieving 100 million monthly visits.

Google's Gemini, despite its integration across various platforms, lags significantly with only 527 million visits, illustrating that the competitive landscape in AI is not solely dominated by Western companies.