ChatGPT App Records 500,000 Downloads Within 6 Days Of Launch

OpenAI’s popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot has been downloaded over half a million times even as the rollout remains under progress and limited to iOS.

ChatGPT’s app had been introduced in the US and iOS-only users last week. OpenAI further expanded the app for 11 more global markets on Thursday.

According to analysis by data.ai, the ChatGPT app crossed 500,000 downloads mark and is one of the highest-performing new app releases across this year and last. The release was only bettered by Trump-backed Truth Social, which was launched in February 2022.

The news would be considered as a positive one by OpenAI as multiple apps masquerading as legitimate ChatGPT-based chatbots have been detected in both Apple App Store and Google Play Store. These apps have been preying on unsuspecting users coercing them into signing up for a subscription that can cost hundreds of dollars a year.

While OpenAI offers the basic functionality of ChatGPT to users for free online, these apps were charging anything from USD 10 per month to USD 70 per year. The iOS version of ‘Chat GBT’, called Ask AI Assistant, charges USD 6 per week (USD 312 per year) after the three-day free trial. The app collected USD 10,000 in March alone, revealed a Sophos report.

But ChatGPT app downloads are surging strong ahead of all AI-backed chatbot apps available in App Store despite being available for just a week. It ranks in the top five among AI chatbot apps by downloads in the US in May 2023. In fact, in the first five days of US launch, ChatGPT touched 480,000 installs.

According to Data.ai, only the top 1 per cent of apps generated more than 10,600 US downloads in their first five days, and the top 0.1 per cent had more than 45,000.