ChatGPT's growth is bouncing back as rivals struggle to close the gap

ChatGPT's growth is bouncing back as rivals struggle to close the gap Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI. Heather Diehl/Getty Images Earlier this year, ChatGPT's dominance of the AI market appeared to be slipping as rivals from Google and Anthropic gained momentum. But new research suggests OpenAI's flagship product is making a surprising comeback.ChatGPT now accounts for more than 81% of worldwide traffic to major AI chatbots, according to a study from Graphite, a research and growth marketing firm. No competitor has managed to capture even 10% of the market.That's a striking finding given the attention surrounding Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude, which have been widely viewed as increasingly serious threats to OpenAI.The research also challenges the perception that ChatGPT's explosive growth has stalled.After surging through the first half of 2025, ChatGPT usage largely plateaued for seven months. But growth resumed this year, with monthly visits climbing nearly 20% to a record 61.35 billion in September, according to Graphite's analysis.This echoes reporting by my colleague Katie Notopoulos, who reported last week that ChatGPT now has 1.2 billion weekly users.The data suggests that while OpenAI's rivals are growing rapidly, they haven't come close to dislodging ChatGPT from its commanding position.Graphite's research, led by CEO Ethan Smith, analyzed web and app traffic to and from major AI services using data from Similarweb.Claude recorded extraordinary growth over the past year, while Gemini expanded quickly, too. But those gains came from much smaller starting points. And ChatGPT isn't just attracting visitors. It's increasingly sending people to other websites, too. Worldwide referral traffic from AI services jumped 92% over the past year, with ChatGPT responsible for 60% of those visits, according to Graphite.The study also highlights how AI is transforming Google's traditional search business. Google's AI Overviews, which provide AI-generated answers directly in search results, now appear in 62% of US searches.Meanwhile, Google's AI Mode, which lets users have more conversational interactions with Search, is growing rapidly. In August, it attracted 491 million US web visits.Perhaps the biggest surprise is where all this AI activity is happening.Despite America's leadership in developing the technology, the US accounts for just 8.8% of worldwide AI traffic, according to Graphite's study. That means more than 90% of usage happens elsewhere, underscoring how global the AI boom has become.Overall, monthly visits to major AI services reached 76 billion worldwide, up 37% from a year earlier.The message from the data is clear: The AI market is still expanding rapidly, and ChatGPT remains overwhelmingly dominant.Sign up for the AI Insider newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com Read next Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Alistair Barr is the driving force behind Business Insider's AI Insider franchise, including the AI Insider newsletter. Sign up here. Before that, he was Business Insider's Global Tech Editor and the Big Tech team leader at Bloomberg, following a reporting career at The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Reuters, and MarketWatch. Alistair covers all things Big Tech, along with startups and venture capital. He writes analysis and columns about topics including AI, cloud computing, data centers, semiconductors, online search, e-commerce, EVs, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT OpenAI More AI Insider Anthropic