ChatGPT traffic increases as students return to school

Students are back at school and back to ChatGPT to do homework.

At least that’s the theory for a slight increase in web traffic, according to digital data and analytics company Similarweb. In his report, visits to chat.openai.com rose 0.4 percent in August – but only in the US. Traffic fell worldwide, but only by 3 percent. Similarlweb expects ChatGPT traffic to finally calm down after three months in a row of declining traffic (domestically and globally).

The increase and possible plateau in traffic for ChatGPT as school begins would make sense as it aligns with the student demographic. “In the United States, traffic fell 10 percent in May, 15 percent in June and another 4 percent in July,” David F. Carr said in the report, which used college-age students as a proxy for students in general . “While in the same months, the proportion of users in the 18-24 age group – which had increased by 30 percent in April – fell to less than 27 percent by July.”

Apparently, students represent a strong user base for the AI ​​chatbot, which has sparked controversy in school due to plagiarism. Some educators have embraced student use of ChatGPT for research purposes and as a tool for writing exercises – as OpenAI very helpfully suggests.

It’s crazy to think, but ChatGPT was released less than a year ago. So it’s still early days for schools to navigate a new normal where essays and answers can be generated by the chatbot in seconds. Whatever happens, as the numbers show, ChatGPT will become a mainstay for students.