Tech Titan Google Surpasses $3 Trillion Market Cap as Gemini Ousts ChatGPT, Boosting Google's Chat Platform
In a surprising turn of events, Google's Gemini app has dethroned ChatGPT as the most popular AI tool in the market. This shift, which occurred on September 12, was marked by a significant surge in global searches for Gemini.
The sudden rise of Gemini can be attributed to the public's interest in image editing, particularly the new feature that transforms photos into 3D collectible-style portraits. This feature, combined with the app's ability to generate anime-style "waifus" without content restrictions, has led to a 300% spike in downloads in Asian markets.
Before this surge, Gemini was trailing behind ChatGPT, with about 13 million monthly downloads compared to ChatGPT's 64 million. However, within two weeks of going viral, Gemini hit #1 on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store globally.
This rise in popularity has also helped push Alphabet's market cap past $3 trillion. Alphabet's stock has climbed nearly 30% year-to-date, outpacing the Nasdaq's 15% gain.
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, tweeted his congratulations to the Gemini App team, stating that their achievement is just the start. He also highlighted the successful Nano Banana tool for image editing integrated in Gemini as a key factor in its success.
The Nano Banana phenomenon, a viral image editing trend, has contributed directly to investor enthusiasm for Alphabet's stock.
While ChatGPT still dominates on raw metrics with 700 million weekly active users and over 1 billion daily queries in the last quarter, it has lost its lead in the App Store rankings and worldwide search interest to Gemini. ChatGPT commanded 60% of AI-related web traffic with nearly 6 billion monthly visits, despite being integrated into Android devices and Google services used by 2 billion people.
The popularity of Gemini's "Ghiblify" feature, which transforms photos into Studio Ghibli-style animations, has been so high that OpenAI had to implement rate limits after users generated millions of whimsical portraits, including controversial moments like the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the Ghibli style.
Elon Musk's company, xAI, posted several generated images on X, alongside a "spicy mode" that let users generate NSFW videos using Grok's AI.
Keybanc Capital analyst Justin Patterson believes that if Gemini remains at the top of the App Store charts, more investors will view it as a strong core offering with incremental use cases that complement the core search experience.
This shift in the AI landscape shows how quickly things can change when an AI feature catches fire on social media. The future of AI is undoubtedly exciting, with Google's new advancements, especially regarding the successful Nano Banana tool for image editing integrated in Gemini, setting the stage for further developments.
