ChatGPT is crushing rivals in the AI chatbot race by all measures - but for how long? (www.zdnet.com)

Multiple independent trackers (Comscore, Statcounter, OneLittleWeb, TechGaged) confirm ChatGPT is currently the dominant AI chatbot, but the landscape is shifting rapidly. Statcounter puts ChatGPT at roughly 80.9% of global chatbot usage (Perplexity 8.08%, Copilot 5.19%, DeepSeek 2.75%, Gemini 2.19%), while OneLittleWeb reports ChatGPT at ~86.3% in the AI search-chatbot niche. Comscore’s mixed desktop/mobile panel shows a major platform shift — mobile reach for AI assistants rose 5.3% in three months to 73.4M users and is up 82% since Nov 2024, while desktop fell 11.1%. Microsoft Copilot’s mobile use jumped 175%, Google Gemini 68%, and ChatGPT grew 17.9%, highlighting how OS/app integration and productivity hooks drive adoption. Methodologies include Comscore’s meters and Total Home panel, Statcounter’s 1.5M-site analytics, and aggregated web/app metrics, lending robustness to these findings. Technically and strategically, the data underline two trends: hybrid, web-connected models (Perplexity) and deep ecosystem embedding (Copilot/Gemini) are viable chevrons against a dominant generalist like ChatGPT. Despite ChatGPT’s lead, it still draws far less traffic than Google search, and dramatic growth rates for niche players (e.g., DeepSeek’s spike) show plenty of opportunity. In short: ChatGPT rules today, but integration, real‑time web access, product differentiation, and regulatory/trust play could reshape the market — and it’s still early days since ChatGPT’s 2022 rise.