Now, that is one thing that our staff will vouch for wholeheartedly. Ever since ChatGPT arrived some years again and sought to render our efforts redundant, we’ve been articulating that our scribes don’t use AI chatbots to write down. Nevertheless, we’re utilizing picture fashions to create caricatures and different photos on our web site. Now an app intelligence supplier says these latter fashions are driving AI progress.
Sure, picture mannequin releases are driving progress for AI cell apps and producing 6.5x extra downloads that conventional mannequin updates, says app intelligence firm Appfigures. This can be a tectonic shift from the times when new AI fashions powering conversations drove demand whereas new options corresponding to voice chat added the lustre.
“A greater reply is helpful. A greater reasoning mannequin is highly effective. However on cell, an image could also be price a thousand downloads. OK, many 1000’s, if not hundreds of thousands, as a result of picture and video instruments are a lot simpler to know, strive, and share,” the corporate says in a press release, considerably facetiously.
However, we get the purpose and no it doesn’t sound reductive because the assertion notes. Actually, we settle for the place the information is main, as a result of we’re part of that information universe. “Mannequin releases can transfer the needle, particularly after they turn out to be a media occasion, however visible instruments have gotten probably the most dependable approach to make client AI apps really feel new, helpful, and value making an attempt,” Appfigures says.
The app intelligence firm says ChatGPT added an estimated 12 million incremental downloads in 28 days after OpenAI launched the 4o picture era in March 2025. Google Gemini did much more with the Nano Banana including an estimated 22 million incremental downloads (downloads over and above the app’s pre-launch baseline) in 28 days after Gemini 2.5 Flash picture launch final August.
Superb isn’t it? Nevertheless, right here comes the fascinating half. For Gemini their picture launch lifted app downloads by 4x extra over that interval and within the case of ChatGPT the expansion was 4.5x greater than the corporate noticed for its GPT-4o, GPT-4.5, and GPT-5 mannequin releases, Appfigures says.
The assertion says different fashions additionally confirmed comparable traits, albeit on a scale a lot smaller than the 2 high picture creators. Meta’s introduction of an AI video feed known as Vibes added 2.5 million in incremental downloads put up the September 25 launch. Sure, it’s a video mannequin, nevertheless it nonetheless stays within the realm of visible content material.
What Appfigures additionally tells us is that these further downloads might not have translated into increased cell revenues. All that it does is give of us a greater cause to put in the app and check out picture era capabilities. Although the information does probably not inform us what customers are utilizing these AI generated photos for? Possibly for his or her social media handles – however that is our hypothesis.
Per the information Appfigures shared, Gemini’s Nano Banana generated estimated gross client spending of nearly $181,000 within the 28-day window following its launch although there was a a lot bigger spike in downloads that it noticed in comparison with the ChatGPT mannequin. Nevertheless, OpenAI claims to have generated an extra $70 million in client spends.
Appfigures famous that DeepSeek proved to be an outlier on this development. Its R1 generated the very best spike amongst firms with AI fashions. It obtained a 28 million incremental downloads within the 28 days after the January 2025 launch. Nevertheless, because it was a worldwide consciousness occasion, the app went from the unknown to the centre of the AI universe in a single day, the assertion says, whereas noting that the corporate most well-liked to maintain DeepSeek out from their evaluation.
