ChatGPT Users Drop by 540,000 in May as 'Ghibli Craze' Fades

After Peaking in April, Users and Downloads Plummet
First Significant Decline Since Initial Launch

The surge of the domestic generative artificial intelligence (AI) service ChatGPT, which at one point ranked second in the world for paid users after the United States, appears to be losing momentum.

Although it attracted attention with its image generation feature that faithfully replicates the art style of the Japanese animation studio 'Studio Ghibli,' the number of users has recently dropped sharply.

According to mobile index data from the data platform company IGAWorks on June 8, ChatGPT's monthly active users (MAU) in May stood at 10,171,126. This represents a decrease of 548,901 compared to April, when the figure was 10,720,227.

This is the second time that the monthly active users of ChatGPT in Korea have declined since February 2024. However, considering that the number of users was only several hundred thousand during the initial launch of the service at that time, this can be seen as the first substantial decline.

A photo of French President Emmanuel Macron (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) transformed into a 'Ghibli style' illustration through ChatPGT
[Image source=Government of India X (formerly Twitter)]

The number of new downloads also plummeted. After peaking at 4,668,381 in April, the figure dropped to 1,506,416 last month, falling to about one-third of the previous level. This is similar to the number recorded in March, which was 1,436,242.

This downward trend is analyzed as a result of the waning popularity of the 'Ghibli-style image' generation trend using ChatGPT.

The monthly active users of ChatGPT in Korea surpassed the 5 million mark for the first time in March this year, reaching 5,090,965. Just one month later, in April, the number of users soared past 10 million, showing explosive growth.

In particular, the ChatGPT-4o image generation feature introduced by OpenAI in March sparked a global 'Ghibli meme' craze.

Meanwhile, OpenAI officially announced its plan to establish a Korean subsidiary at a domestic press conference last month. The company plans to open its first office in Seoul within a few months and begin full-scale business operations in Korea.