Video editing app CapCut dominates AI app downloads, surpassing ChatGPT

Data from industry research firm Unique Capital reveals that ByteDance’s CapCut and Doubao ranked first and second in global AI app downloads in July. CapCut is a video editing mobile application that registered 38.42 million downloads, while the Doubao chatbot got 27.45 million downloads.

These numbers surpass OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which had 19.81 million downloads during the same period. This shows that ByteDance is gaining popularity in the AI market as these apps are successful. In mainland China, CapCut, also called JianYing, has become quite popular among TikTok, Douyin, and Instagram users. 

Doubao chatbot gains traction among users

The app contains features of generative AI (GenAI), which is popular among content creators. As of July, CapCut boasts of having 323 million active users monthly, which is an indication of its usage. 

Doubao, which started operations in August last year, also performed well, with 30.42 million monthly active users in July. Although Doubao has fewer monthly active users (MAUs) than ChatGPT’s 172 million, this growth indicates that ByteDance could pose a threat to the chatbot industry. Earlier this year, ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo emphasized the importance of AI.

The company has also been investing more in AI, as seen in its recent product developments. In May, the company released a set of LLMs that are more affordable than those of competitors. These LLMs are the basis of the AI services provided by ByteDance, including the Doubao chatbot. 

In January, more than 40 government-approved LLMs and related AI applications were available on the Mainland. However, there are now more than 200 China-developed LLMs in the market. Additionally, ByteDance has also entered the text-to-video market with an application called Jimeng, which was launched in August. 

ByteDance’s AI Apps Lead the GenAI Categories

ByteDance has continued to invest in AI technologies, thus raising market competition. As stated by Unique Capital, the most downloaded GenAI app categories are AI assistants, image and video editing, and search. These categories are currently dominated by ByteDance’s CapCut and Doubao applications. 

However, ByteDance has its rivals in the market, which are other technology companies. For instance, the Kimi chatbot of Moonshot AI, backed by Alibaba Group Holding, ranked first in the domestic market with 24.05 million monthly web visits in July, up 18% from the previous month. Kimi was followed by Baidu’s Ernie Bot and Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen, which shows the high competition in the AI industry. 

China has emerged as the leading country in the competition for generative AI patents, with an application of over 38,000 patents between 2014 and 2023. As previously reported by Cryptopolitan, this puts China far ahead of the United States, which filed 6,276 patents from 2014 to 2023.