Overview
- Sensor Tower’s State of AI 2026 shows ChatGPT’s true‑audience share fell below 50 percent, closing May 2026 at about 46 percent while the app still had roughly 1.1 billion monthly users.
- User engagement and spending are surging across the sector, with global time spent on generative AI apps projected to more than double to about 36 billion hours in H1 2026 and in‑app purchases on track to exceed $4 billion.
- Monetization patterns are diverging: Anthropic’s Claude leads on subscription conversion and average revenue per mobile user, while OpenAI has begun scaling ads in ChatGPT with an estimated 17 percent of daily users shown ads by May.
- Distribution and trust effects are reshaping choice as Google embeds Gemini across Search and Android, and OpenAI’s reported DoD agreement in February coincided with a spike in ChatGPT uninstalls and higher downloads for competitors.
- The market remains concentrated — the top assistants account for the vast majority of time spent — and the trends point to a phase of competitive consolidation where distribution, paid tiers, and partnerships will determine winners.