Ever since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, AI tools have been all the rage. While there have been AI-powered tools before OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public, none of them gained as much public attention and hype. Word of ChatGPT’s capabilities spread like wildfire online and within days, more than a million people had registered to use it.
ChatGPT was the first generative AI tool to reach mass adoption, giving millions of people around the world a taste of what large language models are capable of. Ever since then, other tools have popped up left and right, as more and more companies brought their own AI-powered tools to market. Whether it's image generation and enhancing tools such as Adobe Firefly or AI-powered productivity suites such as Microsoft's Copilot - there are many ways in which companies try to leverage the capabilities of AI, but so far none has come as close to mainstream adoption as ChatGPT has.
According to surveys conducted by Statista Consumer Insights in 2022, 2023, and 2024, ChatGPT has always been ahead of the pack. While the landscape around it is constantly changing as more and more companies bring their tools to life, ChatGPT has retained its first-mover advantage, although Meta AI has caught up with the market leader in the 2024 survey. With Apple having entered the market in late 2024, it will be interesting to see what the adoption curve of Apple AI will look like. With its huge installed base of devices and its loyal customer base, Apple has the potential to shake things up.