4,000 mobile apps added ‘chatbot’ to their description in 2023, and it’s been good for growth

If there was one technology that dominated 2023 it was AI. Chatbots like ChatGPT and AI image generators like Midjourney catapulted the concept of artificial intelligence into the public consciousness like never before. And a new report from Data.ai shows that awareness translated into downloads and usage of AI-related apps on the smartphones people use every day.

Data.ai’s State of Mobile 2024 report reveals that the mobile economy had a pretty good year, particularly when compared to the underwhelming 2022. App store spending topped $171 billion, up 3% from the year before, while mobile ad spending topped $362 billion—up 8% year-over-year. Those numbers were helped by the amount of time users around the world spent on their mobile devices, which averaged five hours per day (6% growth YOY). 

But while the report found that new app downloads were up only 1% YOY to 257 billion, the top 20 apps that integrated AI into their feature sets saw an average of 11% YOY growth. Microsoft’s Bing search app was the biggest winner, with downloads of the app surging 1,500% in 2023 thanks to ChatGPT integration. 

Banking and investing app Ally took second place, with downloads surging 113%. And Microsoft’s Edge browser saw downloads jump 94% thanks to AI integrations. Shopify (downloads up 83% YOY), Duolingo (up 39%), Google (up 28%), and Google Maps (up 21%) also saw downloads blow past the 2023 average of 1% growth.

However, not every app that added AI features saw increased downloads. Major apps like Snapchat and Slack saw a decrease in downloads in 2023 (down 15% and 7%, respectively).

Still, since April 2023, the weekly spend on generative AI apps was at least $8 million. Given that kind of recurring spend, it’s no wonder that developers large and small wanted to get an AI-fueled boost. Data.ai found that over 4,000 apps during the year added “chatbot” to their app’s description and over 3,500 added “gpt.”

You can check out Data.ai’s full State of Mobile 2024 report here.