ChatGPT in Decline: Claude from Anthropic Takes the Lead Over OpenAI

Since the beginning of the year, ChatGPT, OpenAI's flagship tool, has been going through a turbulent period marked by a notable slowdown. This situation rekindles concerns about OpenAI's financial health as the company considers going public. The spectacular growth of ChatGPT seems to be waning, a development that has not gone unnoticed in the tech ecosystem.

One of the most significant events during this time was Anthropic's refusal to allow the Pentagon to use its artificial intelligences, particularly for applications in autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. OpenAI seized this opportunity to take over the contract, but this decision had unexpected repercussions. Many users then opted for Claude, the artificial intelligence developed by Anthropic, and this trend appears to be persisting.

Growing Disenchantment

Data provided by Sensor Tower indicates a 132% increase in ChatGPT uninstalls in April compared to the previous year. However, it was in March, just after the episode involving the Pentagon, that the phenomenon peaked with a staggering 413% rise in uninstalls.

Regarding the growth of monthly active users, ChatGPT also experienced a slowdown. In January, the app still showed a year-over-year growth of 168%, but this figure dropped to 78% in April. Although ChatGPT remains the most used app in its category, Sensor Tower highlights that its user base, while still substantially larger than its competitors, is seeing the gap narrow. There is no indication that this trend will reverse anytime soon, especially as Claude continues to gain ground. Over the past few months, downloads of Anthropic's app have increased elevenfold.

Time is Running Out

This slowdown comes at a critical moment for OpenAI. The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that the company has not met its internal growth and revenue targets. These underperformances have led Sarah Friar, the Chief Financial Officer, to express internal concerns about the company's ability to fulfill future contracts if revenues do not grow quickly enough.

For context, OpenAI has committed to approximately $600 billion in future computing power expenditures. Its latest funding round, although massive at $122 billion, could be entirely consumed within three years if revenue projections hold true. And that’s only if these forecasts are met.

To turn the situation around, OpenAI has initiated an internal restructuring, abandoning some projects like Sora to focus its resources on Codex and GPT-5.5. However, there is no guarantee that this refocusing will be enough to reverse the current trend.