Artificial intelligence is in a boom. Generative AI, in the form of intelligent chatbots, AI-enabled search engines and image creators have been the focus of significant public attention since 2023, leading more companies to invest heavily in AI innovation.
OpenAI has made waves with its GPT-powered chatbot ChatGPT, which launched in November 2022 and gained 100 million users in 30 days. ChatGPT can do more than simply answer user queries, it has been used to write computer programmes, compose essays and music, generate business ideas and translate text.
Microsoft’s Bing AI incorporated OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology to improve search results, which resulted in a surge in usage for the search engine.
The technology is still in its infancy and there have been warnings about incorrect or biased responses and harmful content. Some experts are also concerned about the possibility of chatbots being used to cheat on exams, create malware and replace jobs. Over 30,000 people, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, signed an open letter calling on AI labs to pause the training of systems more powerful than GPT-4.
Chatbots and generative AI looks to be the future, with voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant pushed off the side. None of these apps made any significant revenue outside of hardware sales, with Amazon’s Alexa division losing $10 billion in 2022. Amazon also plans to launch an generative AI service in the near future.
Outside of the fear of AI taking over, there have also been controversies around generative AI models scraping the web for images and videos, which they then use to power image and video generation tools. OpenAI and others have signed agreements with license holders around the world to continue to use their content in training the underlying models.
We have collected data and statistics on the AI app sector. Read on below to find out more. If you want to dive deeper in the AI app market, check out our premium report.
Key AI Statistics
- The AI app sector generated $1.8 billion in 2023 and is estimated to grow to $18.8 billion by 2028
- An estimated 230 million people used AI apps in June 2024
- ChatGPT was the most downloaded chatbot app with 209 million downloads
- OpenAI is the most valuable AI startup with a valuation of $80 billion
AI App Report 2024
Want to learn more about the AI app industry? In our AI App report, we cover financials, forecasts, usage, downloads, demographics and benchmarking data.
Top AI Apps
| App Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/chatgpt-statistics/ | ChatGPT | OpenAI's chatbot is the most popular AI app in the world, with over 300 million active users |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/google-gemini-statistics/ | Google Gemini | Google's answer to ChatGPT, utilizing all of the powers of the most popular search engine |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/microsoft-copilot-statistics/ | Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft's chatbot, which runs on OpenAI's GPT model with Bing search results |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/deepseek-statistics/ | DeepSeek | The main chatbot competitor from China, which flipped the script with its cheap development cost |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/perplexity-ai-statistics/ | Perplexity | What some consider to be the next form of search, Perplexity blends chatbot with search engine |
| https://claude.ai/ | Claude | Another popular chatbot developed by Anthropic, seen as a key rival to OpenAI |
| https://x.ai/grok | Grok | The chatbot for users of microblogging app X, previously Twitter |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/character-ai-statistics/ | character.ai | A chatbot marketplace hosting hundreds of thousands of characters and celebrities |
| https://www.midjourney.com/home | Midjourney | One of the more advanced photo generators, which started as a tool on Discord |
| https://www.faceapp.com/ | FaceApp | One of the OG AI photo editing tools, letting users add effects and change features of their face |
| https://www.alexa.com/ | Alexa | Amazon's voice assistant embedded onto millions of Alexa smarthome devices |
| https://www.apple.com/uk/siri/ | Siri | Apple's voice assistant, embbeded into a lot of the apps and services on iOS |
AI App Revenue
The AI app sector reached $1.8 billion revenue in 2023 and is expected to reach $18.8 billion by 2028.
AI app revenue 2021 to 2023 ($bn)
AI app forecast revenue 2024 to 2028 ($bn)
AI App Valuations
OpenAI is the most valuable AI startup, valued at $80 billion. Databricks, which is set to IPO in 2024, is second with a valuation of $43 billion.
AI app valuations 2024 ($bn)
AI App Users
Over 200 million people access AI apps, with the majority of them using chatbots or image editing tools.
AI app users 2021 to 2024 (mm)
AI Chatbot Downloads by App
ChatGPT was the most downloaded chatbot app by quite a large margin, at 209 million downloads.
Chatbot downloads by app 2023 (mm)
More AI App Data
- Google Gemini Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)
- character.ai Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)
- ChatGPT Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)
- Lensa AI Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)
- DeepSeek Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)
- Microsoft Copilot Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)
- Perplexity Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025)
