OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the leading consumer AI application, but Google and X’s Grok are making significant headway in closing the gap, according to venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) latest report on consumer - facing generative AI apps. The report, which ranks the top 100 consumer - facing generative AI applications, offers insights into the competitive landscape two and a half years after the initial wave of consumer AI adoption.
The a16z report identified 14 companies that have consistently ranked among the most - used AI products since the firm began tracking data in 2023. These companies span various AI applications, including general - purpose assistants, image and video editing, voice generation, productivity tools, and model - hosting platforms. Among them, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Character.AI, Midjourney, ElevenLabs, and Hugging Face are notable.
Google, for the first time, has made substantial progress in the consumer AI space, with four of its products—Gemini, AI Studio, NotebookLM, and Google Labs—making it onto the top 100 list. “These products now have their own separate domains, allowing their growth to be tracked independently,” a16z noted.
Gemini, Google’s large - language model - based chatbot, has emerged as ChatGPT’s closest competitor. It ranks second on both the web and mobile platforms in terms of usage. Although it has approximately half the number of monthly active users (MAUs) of ChatGPT, Gemini has a stronghold on the Android market, where it commands nearly 90% of its active user base.
Grok, the chatbot developed by X (formerly Twitter), has also seen rapid growth. It ranked fourth on the web and 23rd on mobile, despite not having a stand - alone app until late 2024. Grok now boasts over 20 million MAUs, and its usage surged by nearly 40% in July following the release of Grok 4, which offers enhanced reasoning capabilities, real - time search, and tool integration.
Meta’s AI also made an appearance on the list, but it lagged behind at 46th on the web and failed to break into the top mobile rankings. Meta faced some setbacks, such as privacy - related backlash, which may have affected its growth.
The report also highlights the rise of other startups. For example, Replit, an AI - powered coding platform, and Lovable, which offers unique AI - based services, have been gaining traction. Additionally, the crackdown by app stores on ChatGPT - clone apps has cleared the way for more original products to grow in the mobile space, as evidenced by the fact that the mobile app ranking has 14 new entrants.
Despite the increasing competition, ChatGPT continues to lead globally. However, as a16z points out, the rapid growth of Gemini and Grok indicates that the AI market is becoming more fragmented, with multiple players vying for user attention. This trend is likely to continue as more companies invest in AI research and development, and as consumers become more accustomed to using AI - powered applications in their daily lives.