DeepSeek’s chatbot has experienced a significant drop in downloads and user engagement during the second quarter, as AI applications tailored for educational and professional use gain popularity. From April to June, the average monthly downloads of DeepSeek’s chatbot plummeted by 72%, reaching 22.6 million, a stark contrast to the previous quarter when the company thrived on the success of its V3 and R1 AI models. Despite maintaining a leading position in the Chinese market with 170 million monthly active users, this figure represents a 9% decrease from the preceding quarter. In the same period, ByteDance’s Doubao surpassed DeepSeek with 29.8 million average monthly downloads, marking a 9.5% increase, while its active user base expanded by 30% to 130 million. The decline in downloads for several general-purpose chatbots highlights a consumer shift towards AI applications with practical uses in China. Tencent’s Yuanbao saw a 54% reduction in average monthly downloads to 61.8 million, and Moonshot AI’s Kimi experienced a 58% drop to 35.3 million. This trend indicates the end of the era dominated by simple chatbots.
Why are DeepSeek’s chatbot downloads declining as AI work and education apps rise?
