The Race for AI Chatbot Dominance

It may seem like AI will be won by the company with the best technology, but in reality, having a large number of active users is what truly boosts valuation and revenue in the AI space.

AI is most commonly accessed by everyday users through chatbots, as they provide a straightforward way to interact with the technology. Users generally prefer not to deal with complex features like APIs or custom coding.

OpenAI burst onto the scene and continues to dominate AI chatbots precisely because it was the first modern LLM technology that provided users with ChatGPT, a simple way to interact using natural language.

The Quest to Surpass ChatGPT

As of January 2024, ChatGPT had 180.5 million users, at a growth rate of 80% from January 2023. The standout metric is active users, with ChatGPT currently at 100 million weekly users. This represents a significant portion of users that show active behavior and return to the app consistently to use the chat functionality.

Newcomers to the space include heavy-hitters such as Google (Bard/Gemini), Meta (Llama), and Microsoft (Copilot). This shift is different than previous of the web, where large incumbents are playing catch up to the new kid on the block, ChatGPT. Smaller entrants have already made a splash including Perplexity, Claude, and

These larger players in the space already have extremely large and active users of their existing platforms, so it will be up to the marketing teams to quickly onboard a high percentage of users who already use the non-AI platforms and get them to use the chatbots.

Do LLM Benchmarks Even Matter?

Ultimately benchmarks of LLMs don't really matter to the average consumer. Only the geekiest among us is spending time looking at comparisons of specific tasks on Gemini vs ChatGPT vs Llama.

Most users want something that is easy to pickup and seems to answer questions or perform tasks quickly. Part of that is trust factors, which had a rocky start initially with LLM hallucinations. The public will have to learn to trust chatbots more and efforts by Perplexity and other AI models to include links to sources and references are going a long way in showing the data being used to provide answers.

One aspect that is not often discussed in how users select an AI chatbot for daily use is empathy. The feeling of using a specific platform can create loyalty and a feeling of belonging. ChatGPT has always been strong at responding in a friendly and empathetic way. This is extended by the use of AI voice responses. I often find myself saying "She responded with..." when mentioning an answer to a question since my chat is set to use a female voice for responses.