Key takeaways
- ChatGPT’s faces trust issues. Accuracy and reliability have been questioned, leading to a decline in user trust.
- The emergence of competitors like Google’s Gemini and Bing’s AI threatens ChatGPT’s market share.
- ChatGPT’s focus on enterprise offerings may hinder its public market growth.
Is ChatGPT the AI equivalent of Myspace?
It’s 2005, and you’ve just decided to delete MSN Messenger. It’s yesterday’s news! Despite hearing about new, oddly named platforms like “The Facebook” and “YouTube,” you’re convinced the future belongs to Myspace.
After all, it appears a safe bet—just like Kanye’s hit single “Gold Digger,” which practically crowned him the voice of “reason” of a generation.
Clearly, some things are hard to predict. Fast forward to today, and Myspace, once a titan of social media, now draws a mere 1.6 million monthly visitors in organic traffic (yes, seriously—some people still use it!).
Meanwhile, Facebook commands around 3.9 billion monthly visitors, proving its staying power.
Now, with the meteoric rise of ChatGPT, the question arises: could it face a similar fate? After exploding in popularity, recent reports have raised concerns about ChatGPT’s declining traffic. As a result, it has prompted experts to wonder if it’s already losing momentum, altering the future of SEO and information sharing.
Could ChatGPT be the Myspace of the AI era? If it can’t resolve its trust issues, it just might be.
ChatGPT made history when it was launched to the public.
ChatGPT’s declining traffic has come as a surprise for many. When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, it took only two months to hit 100 million users.
For comparison, TikTok took nine months to attract over 100 million users. Mark Zuckerberg’s favourite investment, Instagram took even longer, reaching that milestone in 28 months.
If you are in doubt, that’s like seeing someone shatter the 100m Olympic record by making Usain Bolt look like Elon Musk competing against elite athletes.
The signs were all positive. For many, this was a sign that AI search engines were set to overtake Google. Humans were growing more accustomed to online connectivity and desiring innovations that have the potential to reshape the world. AI was the latest frontier, and trust was high in a technology that would transform humanity.
However, as thrilling as interacting with AI might be, the novelty can wear off. In May 2023, ChatGPT usage peaked at 1.8 billion visits but steadily declined throughout the summer.
Some speculated this drop was due to students being on summer break and no longer needing AI help with essays. However, this is an overly simplistic view.
ChatGPT’s declining traffic was not due to students
Contrary to popular belief, not every Gen Z is a budding Mark Zuckerberg, poised to create the next social media giant. The notion that students were primarily responsible for ChatGPT’s declining traffic overlooks the broader demographics of its user base.
While women now make up the majority of higher education students, most completing their studies by age 25, this trend isn’t reflected in ChatGPT’s demographics. In fact, 57% of ChatGPT users are men, with the largest age group being 25-34, representing 33% of its audience.
As students headed back to class and autumn arrived, the expected traffic rebound didn’t happen. It wasn’t until May 2024 that ChatGPT saw a resurgence, surpassing its previous highs. Clearly, there were other factors behind the traffic dip—factors that went beyond the student body.
ChatGPT’s key use cases ignite trust dilemma
At the heart of ChatGPT’s declining traffic is a diminishing sense of trust. For instance, consider what people use ChatGPT for. Studies have found:
- 11% of users use ChatGPT to answer factual questions
- 10% seek advice
- 9% use it to experiment or generate ideas
- 8% use it to summarise texts
Yet, accusations of inaccuracy have riddled ChatGPT. So, with over 20% of people using the platform for “accuracy” of some description, there is a clear issue.
This has seen confidence in the platform plummet. Studies have found only 2% of people strongly trust answers provided by ChatGPT, while 5% somewhat trust it. Moreover, 89% of users say they don’t use it to get answers to factual questions.
An AI search engine that isn’t trusted to provide accurate information is clearly an issue. Furthermore, there have been complaints that ChatGPT is getting worse. This has been exasperated by the fact it’s trained on public data, including sources like Reddit – not exactly a reliable source of information. As a result, it can occasionally produce unexpected (and cringeworthy) results.
A Decline in ChatGPT traffic is the tip of the iceberg in the wider debate on trust
However, this concept of eroding trust in ChatGPT and its declining traffic must also be considered within a wider public discourse. Unless you have lived under a rock for the past decade, you will have noticed a surge in online polarisation and misinformation.
As a result, people are demanding trustworthy sources. Consider the issues raised by the global pandemic. One view is that the rampant conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, fuelled by social media misinformation, contributed to millions of unnecessary deaths during the pandemic.
But hey, as long as people avoided getting microchipped and dodged Gates’ global tracking scheme, it was worth the risk…
Yet, it would be unfair to lay the blame for these wider issues facing society at the feet of ChatGPT. However, it’s this very context that helps us to understand one of the major factors causing ChatGPT’s declining traffic.
The fight against AI content gathers pace
However, the decline in trust towards ChatGPT, along with its decreasing traffic, has also been influenced by other factors.
Since ChatGPT’s launch, interest in using AI for digital marketing and SEO has jumped 50%. This formed the backdrop of a sea change in online marketing with many predicting AI will transform SEO.
The biggest impact has been on content creation. Estimates suggest nearly 30% of journalists rely on ChatGPT to write and craft compelling headlines while interest in AI content has skyrocketed 317%.
However, this adoption has been fraught with problems. Google has responded by de-indexing AI content, meaning it can harm your search rankings.
Moreover, there has been an increase in accusations of plagiarism directed at AI Chatbots like Perplexity AI, further muddying the trust in the industry. This issue has been further exacerbated by concerns over ChatGPT’s business model, particularly the origins of its information.
When we couple these issues with the legal uncertainty of using AI content and AI images, it’s no surprise ChatGPT’s traffic has declined.
However, though these broader factors are not widely understood, they may have already started to erode trust in ChatGPT.
Increased competition is a factor in ChatGPT’s declining traffic
The issue of trust has been magnified by ChatGPT still being relatively new to the market. As such it has yet to establish a strong loyal following, perhaps a key reason for ChatGPT’s declining traffic.
For many, it’s still more of a novelty than a daily tool. In the US, just 53% of people have even heard of ChatGPT, and in the UK, that figure is only slightly better at 58%.
For tech innovators, this is like discovering someone who’s never heard of the internet—hard to believe, but true.
Daily usage paints an even clearer picture. Only 1% of people in Japan, 2% in France and the UK, and 7% in the US use ChatGPT daily. Weekly numbers aren’t much better, with just 11% of Americans and 7% of Brits engaging regularly.
With such low engagement, ChatGPT hasn’t yet secured its foothold in the market, leaving it vulnerable to growing competition.
Though ChatGPT’s traffic grew 96% year-over-year by June 2024, Google’s Gemini surged by 150%. While Gemini’s traffic is still smaller, its rapid rise shows growing interest.
As the first mover, ChatGPT remains the leader, but competitors like Bing’s AI (with 24% US awareness) and Google’s Gemini (with 24% awareness) are gaining ground.
Smaller AI players are also emerging, and the future competition may boil down to which platform users trust to deliver reliable information.
ChatGPT’s declining traffic related to a two-tier business model
The decline in trust and traffic for ChatGPT can also be linked to its business model and strategic priorities. Many are questioning whether ChatGPT is prioritising its enterprise offerings at the expense of enhancements for the public.
Despite its challenges, ChatGPT has achieved impressive milestones, surpassing $2 billion in annual revenue by December 2023—an accomplishment matched by only a handful of companies like Meta and Google within a decade.
However, a significant portion of this revenue comes from ChatGPT Enterprise, a tool designed to enhance business efficiency, productivity, and decision-making through tailored and secure AI assistance. As a result, 92% of Fortune 500 companies now utilise it.
With their enterprise technology generating such high revenue streams, it raises questions about the company’s commitment to its public-facing platform.
However, it appears ChatGPT is aiming for more.
I’ll Recently, they launched SearchGPT, which they plan to integrate with ChatGPT. This will be a Google competitor, suggesting rather than having an alternative focus, they are trying to be too many things to too many people. This in return can degrade quality, and trust and ultimately result in a reduction in traffic to ChatGPT.
ChatGPT overcoming a decline in traffic – the way forward
With ChatGPT’s growth starting to flatten and only 7% of users saying they strongly or somewhat trust ChatGPT’s answers as factual, it will be a long road before they have the potential to become the default search engine.
Moreover, the platform’s struggles to obtain widespread adoption point to a broader challenge in digital marketing: the need for repetition. Research shows it takes 5-7 repetitions for information to move from short-term to long-term memory. That is just to remember it, not necessarily to take action.
Most people operate on autopilot, as Daniel Kahneman explains in Thinking, Fast and Slow, meaning people stick to familiar habits, like turning to Google for information.
This is also one reason why it’s important to identify a niche on social media or obtain topical authority on your website. Repetition helps build authority, clarity and ultimately trust.
These will become critical principles for ChatGPT to adopt as they press ahead and recover their declining traffic.
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