A deeper data driven look into the runaway chatbot success of 2023.
2023 was a year completely dominated by news headlines about generative AI (artificial intelligence). Synonymous with any mention of Generative AI or artificial intelligence is an application called ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a chatbot application that uses a GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) large language model to interact with end users in a conversational way.
Although less commonly known, ChatGPT was developed as an offshoot and sibling model to InstructGPT. The model and Chatbot were both developed by a San Francisco-based tech company called OpenAI.
ChatGPT, among other Generative AI applications, has exploded in popularity and use since the onset of 2023 when ChatGPT was first released. According to our internal research (Source), AI use in the creation of review articles has steadily grown at a rapid pace since 2018. Similarly, Statista (Source) survey studies indicate that client facing businesses are similarly riding the wave of AI applications, using the technology to cut costs, raise productivity, and reduce overhead.
Look below to delve into the descriptive statistics surrounding the current state of ChatGPT and how it has fared with regards to market adoption, technical capabilities, customer demographics, and much more.
ChatGPT Development
How did ChatGPT get its start?
On November 30, 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art conversational deep learning system (Source).
Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is the latest iteration of a series of large language models that have garnered significant attention since the introduction of the first GPT model in 2018. (Source).
It didn’t take long for ChatGPT to gain popularity. It surpassed 1 million users just five days after it launched, according to Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s CEO at the time (Source).
Since the founding of OpenAI, the development team for ChatGPT have consistently rolled out improvements of the GPT model and the ensuing chatbot. The following below is a chronological look at the major milestones that has led to the current state of ChatGPT today:
GPT-1 is created and launched on June 11, 2018 (Source).
GPT-2 advances on the previous model and is released on February 14, 2019 (Source).
GPT-3 becomes latest model, releasing on the anniversary of GPT-1 on June 11, 2020 (Source).
InstructGPT, the sibling model and inspiration for ChatGPT launches on January 27, 2022 (Source).
ChatGPT makes its public debut in November 30, 2022 (Source).
ChatGPT Plus, the paid subscription model of ChatGPT is introduced on February 09, 2023 (Source).
ChatGPT API is made public to businesses and corporate clients on March 01, 2023 (Source).
GPT-4o, the latest GPT model, was released on May 13, 2024. Following the release of GPT-4o ChatGPT released GPT-4o mini in July 2024. (Source).
ChatGPT IOS Mobile app makes it way on the apple app store on May 18, 2023 (Source).
ChatGPT Android Mobile app is made available to android mobile users on July 21, 2023 (Source).
ChatGPT Enterprise launches direct corporate product offering on August 28, 2023 (Source).
ChatGPT Technology
How does ChatGPT Work?
OpenAI’s large language models, including the models that power ChatGPT, are developed using three primary sources of information: (1) information that is publicly available on the internet, (2) information that they license from third parties, and (3) information that their users or their human trainers provide. (Source)
ChatGPT is based on natural language processing, which is a section within artificial intelligence. As the name suggests, NLP focuses on the interaction between computers and humans using natural language. (Source)
ChatGPT does not copy or store training information in a database. Instead, it learns about associations between words, and those learnings help the model update its numbers/weights. (Source)
ChatGPT is fine-tuned from GPT-3.5, a language model trained to produce text. ChatGPT was optimized for dialogue by using Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF). (Source)
The following graphic below is provided by OpenAI and details the process behind making an LLM (large language model) like ChatGPT functional.
As of September 5, 2024, the availability of Memory has expanded to include ChatGPT users with a Free, Plus, Team, or Enterprise plan. (Source)
In January 2024, OpenAI introduced new features: the GPT Store and ChatGPT Team plan. GPT Store has a diverse range of GPTs for different purposes and ChatGPT Team provides a collaborative workspace for team members (Source and Source).
Rolling out custom versions of ChatGPT that you can create for a specific purpose—called GPTs. GPTs are a new way for anyone to create a tailored version of ChatGPT to be more helpful in their daily life, at specific tasks. (Source)
They’ve integrated DALL·E 3 with ChatGPT (October 16, 2023), allowing it to respond to your requests with images. From a simple sentence to a detailed paragraph, you can ask ChatGPT what you want to see and it will translate your ideas into exceptionally accurate images. (Source)
Is there Anything ChatGPT Won’t Do?
As highlighted throughout this article, ChatGPT has proven to be acutely capable of a wide ranging set of tasks. Instead of listing the endless possibilities for ChatGPT’s applications, here is a list of uses that OpenAI has forbade ChatGPT from providing answers to (Source):
ChatGPT cannot provide guidance that violates an individual's privacy or compromises their security.
The chatbot is restricted from creating inappropriate, explicit, discriminatory, or offensive content.
ChatGPT will not directly assist with political campaigning or lobbying efforts beyond providing general information.
The chatbot cannot make medical diagnoses or offer advice that requires complex human judgment.
ChatGPT is limited in providing financial recommendations or other guidance that may lead to economic or physical harm for the user.
Questions of a personal nature or specific advice tailored to the individual user are beyond ChatGPT's capabilities.
Promoting illegal activities or generating harmful malware code is prohibited for ChatGPT.
ChatGPT Market Presence and Influence
What is ChatGPT’s Market Awareness?
The chatbot launched for public use only in December 2022 but has already amassed 57 million monthly active users in its first month of availability (Source)
ChatGPT averages 60 million unique visitors per day in a March 2024 statistic (Source)
A survey conducted in February 2024 showed that about 43% of U.S. residents between the ages of 18 and 29 use ChatGPT, about 27% in the age group of 30-49, 17% between 50 and 64, and less than 6% over 64. The statistics showed about an 18% increase in ChatGPT’s use rate compared to identical research conducted in July last year. (Source)
ChatGPT averages 13 million unique visitors a day (Feb 2023). (Source)
About six-in-ten U.S. adults (58%) are familiar with ChatGPT, though relatively few have tried it themselves (Source)
75% of teens who reside in a household that makes $75,000 or higher per year have heard of ChatGPT. The figures are smaller in households with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 at 58% and even less in households that earn under $30,000, with 41% reporting they’ve heard of ChatGPT (Source).
Adults under 30 who have heard of ChatGPT are far more likely than those 65 and older to have used the chatbot (43% vs. 6%). (Source)
GPT's popularity is clear with over 40% of American adults knowing about the program. (Source)
One hundred million people are using ChatGPT on a weekly basis, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced Nov 6, 2023. (Source)
The following Image below, displays the results of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center to determine how aware Americans are of ChatGPT:
Roughly 58% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 have used ChatGPT more than once to help with their schoolwork. (Source)
Roughly seven-in-ten teens who have heard of ChatGPT say it’s acceptable to use when they are researching something new, while 13% say it is not acceptable.(Source)
Only 15% of working adults who have heard of ChatGPT say chatbots would be extremely or very helpful for their job, with 5% saying they would be extremely helpful.(Source)
About 97% of teachers are actively using ChatGPT to create lesson plans (Source)
41% of those 97% say that they are “frequently” using ChatGPT (Source)
56% of those 97% say they they are “sometimes” using ChatGPT (Source)
Only 3% of teachers have never used ChatGPT according to a recent research (Source)
Aside from the sentiment towards ChatGPT, the performance of ChatGPT on common examinations are similarly impressive:
Going by the answers it gave, if ChatGPT were a person, it would most likely vote for the Greens (around 72% support), though it also favoured the socialist Linke (around 67% support) and social democrat SDP (around 65% support) parties in Germany (Source).
ChatGPT displays leftist and especially environmentalist leanings, according to a joint study by staff from the Technical University of Munich and the University of Hamburg Business School. (Source).
The following graphic below explains and displays recent political biases uncovered in responses provided by ChatGPT:
According to OpenAI, ChatGPT will occasionally make up facts or “hallucinate” outputs. (Source)
ChatGPT is not connected to the internet and can occasionally produce incorrect answers. It has limited knowledge of the world and events after 2021 and may also occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content. (Source)
GPT-3 achieves 86.4% accuracy in the few-shot setting, an increase of over 18% from the previous state-of-the-art model. (Source)
GPT3’s performance grows smoothly with model size, suggesting that language models continue to absorb knowledge as their capacity increases. (Source)
When OpenAI’s most recent AI model GPT-4, was released — it had an average accuracy of 38.3% (for primary diagnoses). When the percentage included differential diagnoses, accuracy improved to 71.6%. (as per a study into the Performance of GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 in generating accurate and comprehensive diagnoses across medical subspecialties). (Source)
ChatGPT Pricing Model
Subscribers choosing to use GPT-4 are limited to 40 messages every three hours (Source).
ChatGPT Plus, a premium service that costs $20 a month, already gives subscribers access to GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 as well as multimodal capabilities: it can accept and generate text, image and voice (Source).
OpenAI’s latest image generation model, DALL-E, is available through ChatGPT Plus (Source).
Plug-ins from third parties such as Expedia and Instacart to give the AI chatbot added functionalities (Source).
Recently, OpenAI added speech capabilities to the free version of ChatGPT (Source).
ChatGPT Plus is a subscription plan for ChatGPT. It offers availability even when demand is high, faster response speed, and priority access to new features (Source).
ChatGPT with voice is now available to all free users (Nov 21, 2023) (Source).
Can Originality.ai Detect ChatGPT?
With newer AI advancements being implemented, it can become increasingly challenging for AI detection tools to recognize generative content. ChatGPT’s technology is constantly evolving, requiring AI detectors to remain competitive.
ChatGPT can be extremely effective for research, content creation, and general suggestions. However, it should not be relied on as the sole source of information. While it’s useful in many aspects, ChatGPT may not always provide the most accurate, human-sounding, or precise information that your audience is looking for.
In this context, we tested ChatGPT and Originality.ai’s AI detection tool. We incorporated different prompts and methods to determine the efficacy of Originality.ai’s AI detector at identifying ChatGPT’s AI content. Let’s review the test results!
[Test 1] General AI-Text, Standard Instructions
When generating ChatGPT content with standard prompts, the expectation that the tool will attempt to conceal the AI content is low.
For example, starting your message to ChatGPT with “generate an article on (topic)” and not adding any extra instructions will request the most standard AI article from ChatGPT, recognizable by many AI detection technologies on the web.
[Prompt #1] - Generate a short article (500-1000 words) on 2024 fashion trends.
In the first test, we will be generating a standard information piece without extra instructions on our end.
Let’s have a look at ChatGPT’s concealment attempt to avoid being detected:
We’ve received an 894-word output from ChatGPT’s standard version. The result from Originailty’s detection is evident. It detected the content as likely AI with 100% confidence. Let’s proceed with the next prompt and determine how Originality.ai continues to perform:
[Prompt #2] - Generate a short article (500-1000 words) on 2024 tech & gadget trends.
We’ve decided to narrow ChatGPT’s scope towards 2024 tech and gadgets, a widely popular niche.
Let’s look at the results:
Once again, we’re faced with a strong outcome. From the output of 1,043 words, Originality.ai has detected likely AI-generated content with 100% confidence. It is evident that regardless of the topic, the Originality.ai AI detector can easily recognize ChatGPT-generated content.
Now, let’s move on to more complicated tests where we give ChatGPT additional instructions about making the articles sound more “human.”
To really put ChatGPT to the test, we must involve additional instructions to humanize the output as much as possible. Telling ChatGPT to “humanize the article” or “make it non-detectable by AI tools” doesn’t have much of an impact in most cases. So, when creating the prompt, we added additional instructions in terms of outline, writing style, and the approximate audience that will view the text.
[Prompt #1] - Generate a short article (500-1000 words) on 2024 fashion trends. Informatively split each heading in the article, consisting of 2-3 paragraphs. Make the content sound as human as possible by keeping a direct and natural tone with the reader. Our audience consists of both young and middle-aged people interested in recent fashion trends.
Keep in mind that providing ChatGPT with formatting, writing, and image examples helps produce content that’s even more accurate. Let’s put the result from the above prompt to the test:
Even with the additional instructions, Originality.ai has detected the content as likely AI with 100% confidence from the 904 words generated from ChatGPT, demonstrating that there isn’t an easy way to bypass the AI detection tools.
In the next prompt, we’ll provide ChatGPT with a human-written example before generating a new article. This should provide it with ideas on how to produce human-written content.
[Prompt #2] - Generate a short article (500-1000 words) on 2024 tech & gadgets. Informatively split each heading in the article, consisting of 2-3 paragraphs. Make the content sound as human as possible by keeping a direct and natural tone with the reader. Our audience consists of both young and middle-aged people interested in recent fashion trends. Use this article - [Provided Text] for example.
Unexpectedly, we’ve received two individual responses from ChatGPT, each containing information on 2024 technology and gadgets. We have been prompted to select only each of the responses, so we weren’t able to compare both outputs.
This solidifies the testing — the AI detector was 100% confident the copy was likely AI. The response of the prompt was 752 words in length.
In conclusion, Originality.ai continuously demonstrated that it could detect ChatGPT content even after providing ChatPT with a fully human-written article as an example.
ChatGPT Traffic and Reach
According to recent research conducted in August and September 2024, here’s how ChatGPT’s traffic and reach stats are performing (Source):
1.8 billion visits in April 2024 (which dropped to 260 million visits in June 2024)
75.2% bounce rate (up from the previous bounce rate of 32.68%)
1.34 pages per visit
1 minute and 12 seconds (down from 7 minutes and 9 seconds) for avg. visit duration
ChatGPT averages 13 million unique visitors a day (Feb 2023)
ChatGPT shows its market presence and dominance as the site reaches roughly 78.18% of users through direct searches, the chart below shows how many users ChatGPT reaches through other web traffic sources:
Not long ago, artificial intelligence as a term was confined to the realm of science fiction and the spirited discussions of a select group of the world’s most talented scientists. Inversely, by looking at the data above, it’s clear to see that ChatGPT was in full control of the news cycle throughout 2023.
Moreover, the application has cemented itself not only in tech circles but also become a mainstay in the lexicon of most businesses and consumers around the world. In the meantime, AI chatbots like ChatGPT and its competitors have shifted the way in which customers interact with businesses, how businesses market themselves to target customers, and how teams disseminate information internally.
Nonetheless, if ChatGPT can build on its progress from 2023, the advancements to come will continue to revolutionize how we interact with large language models.
Founder / CEO of Originality.ai I have been involved in the SEO and Content Marketing world for over a decade. My career started with a portfolio of content sites, recently I sold 2 content marketing agencies and I am the Co-Founder of MotionInvest.com, the leading place to buy and sell content websites. Through these experiences I understand what web publishers need when it comes to verifying content is original. I am not For or Against AI content, I think it has a place in everyones content strategy. However, I believe you as the publisher should be the one making the decision on when to use AI content. Our Originality checking tool has been built with serious web publishers in mind!
