ChatGPT's share of the AI assistant market has fallen below 50 percent for the first time
Kyiv • UNN
ChatGPT's share dropped to 46.4%, while competitor Claude grew by 640%. This was influenced by a deal with the Pentagon and the launch of the QuitGPT initiative.
In recent years, OpenAI's ChatGPT has maintained its leadership among AI assistants. However, a fresh report from Sensor Tower, as shared by TechCrunch, shows that this dominance no longer represents a majority of users—it holds only the largest market share, but not the majority, UNN reports.
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ChatGPT's share of the AI assistant market was significantly higher at the beginning of the year, exceeding 50% at that time. However, as of May 31, it fell to an all-time low of 46.4%, TechCrunch notes.
In 2023, ChatGPT looked like a potential "generic trademark"—a term for cases where a brand name becomes the common designation for an entire product category. But currently, phrases like "just Google it via ChatGPT" are almost never used.
In March, OpenAI struck a deal with the Pentagon at a time when its main competitor, Anthropic, was in open conflict with the agency over its stance on autonomous weapons and mass AI surveillance. This helped Anthropic gain a certain reputation as a "moral favorite," though this remains debatable.
Following the Pentagon deal, some OpenAI users staged protests. The company's CEO, Altman, admitted that the decision appeared "rushed and poorly implemented." An initiative called QuitGPT was created, positioning itself as a "people's campaign" calling for a boycott of ChatGPT. Its website claims that about 4 million people have joined.
At the same time, OpenAI is undergoing an image shift—from a "free and experimental" company to one that is more corporate and business-oriented. Anthropic's revenue growth among corporate clients triggered a "high alert mode" within OpenAI in late 2025. By mid-March 2026, the company reportedly began shifting its strategy in favor of the enterprise and productivity segments. Around the same time, OpenAI shut down its Sora video generator.
ChatGPT also began showing advertisements at the beginning of the year.
Ultimately, the decline in ChatGPT's dominance occurred against the backdrop of a more difficult year for the brand, although there were positive moments—notably OpenAI's victory in a lawsuit against Elon Musk.
According to the report, Anthropic Claude's share stands at 10.3%, which is significantly less than Gemini (27.7%) and ChatGPT (46.4%). At the same time, Claude is demonstrating much faster growth: 640% year-over-year compared to 62% for ChatGPT.
As for Grok, the AI assistant from SpaceX/Elon Musk, it has a negligible market share and falls into the "others" category along with Perplexity, MetaAI, and DeepSeek, which collectively cover about 5% of the market.
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