A recent disruption of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot led to a notable increase in interest for Google’s conversational AI rival, Gemini. According to data from QR Code Generator, global searches for "Gemini" soared by nearly 60% on June 4th, coinciding exactly with ChatGPT’s reported downtime. Normally, daily searches for "Gemini" are around 204,991, but this number surged to 327,058 during the ChatGPT outage, indicating that users were actively seeking alternatives when their preferred chatbot was unavailable.
The ChatGPT Outage and Its Impact
The ChatGPT outage occurred around 8:00 AM London time on June 4th. This spike in Gemini searches mirrored the rise in searches for "ChatGPT down" at the same time, illustrating a clear correlation. DownDetector reports confirm that the ChatGPT outage began around 8:00 AM London time on June 4th.
While Gemini became the most sought-after alternative, other searches like "Microsoft Copilot" and "ChatGPT Alternative" also saw an uptick. Daily searches for "Microsoft Copilot" usually average around 11,090, but on June 4th, they increased to 16,677, a 50% rise. Similarly, searches for "ChatGPT Alternative" spiked to 11,000 within the first few hours of the outage, compared to a typical daily average of 898. However, these alternative searches were minor compared to the surge in interest for Gemini.
Validation for Google’s Efforts
Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator, views this as a validation of Google’s endeavor to establish itself as a major player in generative AI. “The clear parallel trend between the ChatGPT outage and the surge in Gemini searches suggests that people see Gemini as an obvious alternative,” commented Porcar. He further noted that in the absence of ChatGPT, users quickly turned to Gemini, indicating its potential as a significant competitor.
ChatGPT’s Dominance and Gemini’s Opportunity
It’s noteworthy that OpenAI’s ChatGPT has around 180 million active users globally, securing its position as a leader in generative AI chatbots. Launched in late 2023 as the successor to LaMDA and PaLM 2, Google’s Gemini entered the market with Alphabet claiming that its "Gemini Ultra" outperformed OpenAI’s GPT-V4 in various text and multimodal functionalities. The recent ChatGPT outage gave Gemini an unexpected chance to gain traction among users looking for alternatives. It remains to be seen if this will translate into sustained growth for Google’s conversational AI platform.
(Via)
