ChatGPT website traffic drops for the first time since its release in November

ChatGPT has been capturing headlines for the past few months with consistent growth in traffic. However, OpenAI's chatbot saw in drop in traffic for the first time in the past couple of months.

Between May and June, global desktop, and mobile traffic to the ChatGPT website fell by an estimated 10 percent. The website traffic fell by 9.7 percent in from May to June, while the rate of unique visitors dropped by 5.7 percent, according to analytics firm Similarweb said.

ChatGPT's traffic drops for the first time

Moreover, the report also noted that the amount of time visitors spent on OpenAI's ChatGPT website had also declined to 8.5 percent. The analytic firm also reported that ChatGPT's skyrocketing traffic growth was beginning to level out last month, so the decline comes as a surprise.

This marks the first time the website saw a decline in traffic since OpenAI first introduced its AI Chatbot back in November 2022. Similarweb's report also noted that despite the decline, ChatGPT still attracts more visitors than Microsoft's search engine, bing.com and Character.AI, the second most popular stand-alone AI chatbot site.

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The report noted that the "drop in interest not only for ChatGPT but one of its key competitors is a sign that the novelty has worn off for AI chat." Similarweb suggests that generative AI platforms will now have to "prove their worth," rather than take things for granted from here on out.

According to Similarweb, "ChatGPT no longer looks like it will keep growing until it's the most-trafficked website in the world. The report further stated; "In other words, Google is in no danger of being eclipsed by the OpenAI tech demo site that turned into a cultural phenomenon."

ChatGPT also released a standalone app for Android and iOS back in May 2023. However, CNBC's reporting suggests that traffic to the mobile ChatGPT app and ChatGPT-powered Bing app could also be on the decline.