ChatGPT's Popularity Takes a Hit: Website Traffic and App Downloads Dip in June

Mobile and desktop traffic to ChatGPT's website worldwide declined 9.7% in June over May for the first time since its launch in November, according to Similarweb. 

Downloads of the bot's Apple Inc's AAPL iPhone app, launched in May, have also steadily fallen since the June peak, according to Sensor Tower, the Washington Post reports.

ChatGPT zoomed to an estimated 100 million monthly users in its first two months, according to UBS Group AG UBS, courtesy of the bot's ability to have complex conversations, write poetry and pass professional exams.

Microsoft Corp MSFT backed OpenAI's ChatGPT kicked off an explosion of interest in artificial intelligence spurring Big Tech companies to race to provide competing tools. 

Computer coders, office workers, and students employed ChatGPT to speed up their work. Some companies even fired copywriters and replaced them with ChatGPT.

Then, as people began to encounter the chatbot making up false information, they started judging its abilities and competencies, experts said.

Many companies have banned their employees from using ChatGPT, fearing sensitive data leaks.

Running AI chatbots consumes an enormous amount of expensive computer-processing power, and analysts have theorized that the drop in quality to OpenAI's attempts to lower the cost of running the bot. 

The end of the school year in the U.S. and Europe could also have triggered the drop in usage.

Also, concerns over looming regulation and new rules in the European Union have made OpenAI and other AI companies turn down the abilities of their chatbots.