ChatGPT's market dominance slips as AI competitors grow rapidly

Published On 19 Jun, 2026
chatgpts-market-dominance-slips-as-ai-competitors-grow-rapidly

At the start of the year, ChatGPT had over 50% market share, but by late May, it had dropped to a record low of 46.4%. This decline follows a tough period for OpenAI’s reputation.

In March, the company signed a contract with the Pentagon, prompting backlash from some users and sparking a grassroots boycott called “QuitGPT,” which claims millions of supporters.

At the same time, OpenAI redirected its internal focus from consumer-oriented creative projects to enterprise and productivity solutions, leading to the discontinuation of its video-generation app, Sora.

The integration of ads into ChatGPT earlier this year also affected user sentiment. Meanwhile, competitors have taken advantage of these changes. Anthropic has positioned itself as a more ethically driven alternative, resulting in a notable increase in its enterprise client base and revenue.

While Anthropic’s Claude still holds a modest 10.3% market share, a Reuters analysis of Sensor Tower data shows that its monthly active user growth surged 640% year-over-year, far outpacing ChatGPT’s 62% growth rate.

Currently, the broader AI assistant market is more divided. Google’s Gemini has firmed its position as the primary challenger to OpenAI, capturing 27.7% of the market.