AI-powered mobile apps are becoming increasingly popular with both developers and users. A report from analytics firm Apptopia found that the number of chatbot apps surged by 1480% from March of this year compared to the same period the year before. Most apps allow users to chat via bots for personal uses such as entertainment, education, and customer support. It seems that this growth in popularity is being driven by the rise of Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney.
These AI-powered apps are being downloaded more than ever before, with downloads increasing by 1506% year over year in March. This has also led to a massive boost in user spending, which Apptopia found to be up by an incredible 4184% year over year. This popularity wave is also helping other companies in the market, such as Microsoft who recently integrated OpenAI tech with Bing, resulting in their downloads increasing by 1000%.
Meanwhile, another key player in the AI-powered app space is Quora. Their growing AI platform, Poe, features a wide range of chatbot personalities thereby giving users the ability to use chatbot technology for multiple use cases. It allows people to create their own bots just using prompts, and includes options for a pirate language bot, a bot that can convert messages into emojis and even a Japanese Language tutor.
However, not every app has been created for a noble purpose: some apps are copycat versions of original bot applications, and there have been instances of companies suing Apple for allowing counterfeit apps of their Ernie Bot on the App Store. Despite this, the popularity of these AI-powered apps remains strong, having now become an attractive revenue source for developers.
Baidu, the Chinese tech gaint, is one such company who has already filed a lawsuit against Apple due to counterfeit Ernie Bot apps being available in the App Store. At the same time, Microsoft have benefitted significantly, with their use of Open AI tech leading to a 135% year-on-year increase in browser downloads for Edge in Q1 of 2023.
Despite this immensely positive impact on the industry, analysts remain cautious about the staying power of these AI-powered apps. It is still too early to tell whether these experiences will remain sustainable in the long run, and whether or not user spending will remain consistent in the coming months. For now, however, it is clear that AI-powered apps are very much here to stay.
