OpenAI’s flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, lost its majority hold on the AI‑assistant market for the first time, slipping to a 46.4% share of global usage by the end of May 2026. The decline was documented in Sensor Tower’s State of AI Report, which tracks downloads, active users and revenue across the burgeoning AI app ecosystem.
ChatGPT remains the most widely used assistant, boasting over 1.1 billion monthly users and 900 million weekly active users reported in February. Yet, its dominance has eroded as Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude accelerated their adoption. Gemini now commands roughly 27.7% of the market, while Claude holds 10.3%, together pushing ChatGPT below the half‑mark for the first time since the service debuted more than three and a half years ago.
Other entrants such as xAI’s Grok, Perplexity, DeepSeek and Meta AI each linger under 5% share, underscoring a concentration of power among the top three players. The report also notes a rising willingness among users to switch assistants, a behavior spurred by high‑profile events. OpenAI’s February contract with the U.S. Department of Defense triggered a noticeable spike in uninstalls, suggesting that brand alignment and perceived values now weigh heavily on user decisions.
Beyond market share, the AI‑assistant sector is witnessing a shift from pure user growth to revenue generation. Sensor Tower estimates that in the first half of 2026, AI apps will be downloaded nearly 2.3 billion times and generate more than $4.2 billion in spend—almost double the $1.83 billion recorded in the same period a year earlier. Despite the surge, both download and spend growth rates have slowed, hinting at a maturing market.
Geographically, Asia recorded a 3.3% decline in AI‑app downloads during the first quarter, driven by weaker performance in China and India. While the region still leads in total download volume, North America and Europe outpace it in in‑app spending, a factor that could steer future investment toward premium features in those markets.
In the United States, users are increasingly turning to AI assistants for productivity tasks and are more likely to pay for premium tiers. Anthropic’s Claude stands out with a 13% conversion rate to paid subscriptions, the highest among its peers. This monetization edge positions Claude as a serious challenger not only in user numbers but also in revenue per user.
ChatGPT has begun experimenting with advertising as a supplemental revenue stream. By May, roughly 17% of daily users were seeing ads, primarily from software and shopping categories, followed by media, entertainment, and food‑service ads. The rollout marks a strategic pivot for OpenAI, which previously relied chiefly on subscription fees.
Retail integration is another battleground. ChatGPT’s shopping links now funnel traffic to giants like Target, Walmart and Costco, while Amazon has blocked the chatbot’s web crawlers, limiting its referral flow. Walmart’s own AI assistant, Spark, is gaining traction, whereas Amazon’s Rufus shows flat growth. Early data suggest that shoppers who engage with on‑platform AI spend more time in the app and convert at higher rates, pointing to a growing influence of AI on e‑commerce behavior.
Overall, the AI‑assistant market is evolving from a winner‑takes‑all scenario to a more competitive arena where user trust, ecosystem integration and monetization strategies dictate success. ChatGPT’s market‑share dip underscores the importance of adaptability as rivals capitalize on broader ecosystems and targeted revenue models.
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