Computer software company that analyses website traffic, SimilarWeb has revealed that 672 million users visited the OpenAI website in January 2023. Visits have exploded to over 36 times the amount since ChatGPT’s release at the end of November 2022, going from 18.3 million to 672 million in just two months as the new language and search model continues to make headlines. ChatGPT drives over 92% of total website traffic.
The analysis by digital adoption magazine Digital Aadoption reveals that OpenAI has become one of the most visited websites, ranking 44th globally in the last month based on traffic. This makes OpenAI the current number-one website in SimilarWeb’s Computers Electronics and Technology category, overtaking tech giants such as Zoom, AOL, Sharepoint and AT&T.
Over one-fifth of all visits are from India and the United States, with around 11% traffic share each, or an estimated 73.9 million visits per country over the last month. Other main countries visiting are France, Canada, and Germany.
There are currently 24 million average daily visits to OpenAI.com due to ChatGPT. ChatGPT is currently the fastest-growing app in the world, according to investment bank UBS, which reported the chatbot reached 100 million monthly active users by January.
Before ChatGPT, OpenAI had released previously successful projects, including another language model, GPT-3 and DALL-E, an AI image generator. Founding members include current CEO Sam Altman, Elon Musk, co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and more. According to a company press statement, $1 billion was committed when OpenAI was founded.
A spokesperson at Digital Adoption commented on the findings, saying, “SimilarWeb traffic shows that OpenAI is quickly becoming one of the biggest websites in the world after going viral. ChatGPT has been named ‘Google killer’ and an ‘AI revolution’, gaining notorious buzz. There is no denying how its popularity has caught on like wildfire, skyrocketing the company into global ranks within two months. Internet users are discovering new purposes for the chatbot daily, and along with it comes questions around regulation.
As technology develops at such a fast rate, it raises a question as to whether we can adequately regulate and ensure that information is trustworthy and accurate, especially when used in our professional lives. While ChatGPT has been tipped as the ‘next Google’, we know that Google is creating a rival chatbot to fend off any competition, which is rumored to be announced in the coming days.
Regardless, the potential of AI language models to enhance our home and work lives is immeasurable, and we are just scratching the surface of what AI can do. The traffic numbers show a growing desire to use technology to enhance our daily lives”.
The study was conducted by Digital Adoption which provides detailed information on how companies can maximize and accelerate the impact of their digital transformation strategy.
