Tiktok has just lost the throne of being the most downloaded app in the world, and the name of the one who took the Iron Throne won’t surprise you: ChatGPT. Crowned as the new most downloaded app of the month, it has recorded a total of 52 million downloads in just one month! The number is overwhelming; it adds up to more than the second and third most downloaded apps combined (TikTok and Instagram, with 39 million downloads each last month). Are digital habits changing?
Who has reigned in downloads?
The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in daily life has marked a milestone in the history of technologies. So much so that 52 million users have chosen to download ChatGPT over entertainment apps like TikTok or Instagram, or shopping apps like Temu or Shein. But why?
Changes in consumption habits
ChatGPT has become the most popular app in the world. The reason? It answers absolutely everything. The creator of ChatGPT, OpenAI, hopes to establish it as the most used app by the end of the year, reaching one billion global users, and in fact, the company has revealed that its website receives at least 5.19 billion visits per month.15% of that figure are from the U.S.!
Immediacy instead of thinking
All this is because today’s society seeks immediacy (regardless of which generation we belong to, we don’t want to demonize any generation). We seek speed, efficiency, and authenticity (although sometimes, GPT makes things up, let’s be honest).
Instead of doing a search on Google and filtering through data, people prefer to ask ChatGPT and request options, so they get clear and personalized answers. In other words: ChatGPT is becoming the new personal search engine for our youth.
Why has ChatGPT become so popular?
ChatGPT has conquered the world, and the reason, as we said above, is because it offers immediacy. Immediacy for our questions, immediacy for any request, and this particular AI can even plan your weekly menu, all you have to do is ask.
Is TikTok no longer trendy?
Of course it is, and in fact, TikTok still reigns in the world of entertainment (ahead of Instagram), and no one can resist the endless videos of kittens on this platform.
Many people also use it to learn about any topic, because, since it works with an algorithm, once you like a video about any topic, all the viral videos about the same topic will start showing up on your “for you page” (and that’s why I’m now an expert in houseplants and epoxy resin).
The problem with ChatGPT
This platform has taken over our daily lives, no doubt about it, from best friend to therapist, and also expert in painting, literature or any other subject you can think of. But what about young people who are still in school?
A recent study by Pew Research Center has revealed that around a quarter of today’s teens have used this platform to do school assignments. And this is where the debate arises: how ethical is it to use AI to do schoolwork?
It’s one thing to use it as a new kind of encyclopaedia, almost like we’ve used Wikipedia our whole lives, but asking an AI to do an assignment that you’re going to copy literally and turn in as your own schoolwork?…
Maybe that’s where we need to stop for a moment and reflect on what’s happening with our teenagers and why we are promoting a society where thinking is no longer in style.
The danger of teenagers without awareness
Logic leads us to think that if teenagers trust what an AI tells them, they’ll always trust it. And this can be a double-edged sword, because any person, organization, or government with bad intentions could take advantage of the lack of critical thinking and experience of teenagers, creating a generation completely controlled by “fake news.”
As Rumplestiltskin would say, all power comes with great responsibility.