AI Series Part 4: Some AI platforms struggle, others thrive in world of ChatGPT

Leonardo.ai–a differentiated visualization growing its share of wallet

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A self-described “platform for creative production,” Leonardo.ai commanded about 47% of its own customers’ AI Tools spending in January 2024, relatively flat since November 2023  according to Earnest credit card data. This makes it somewhat rare among AI tools in that it is not losing significant share to ChatGPT. In fact, the service continued to add paid users after ChatGPT launched. The reason is likely its highly differentiated offering of creative tools for image design, not a core ChatGPT offering. Still, Leonardo.ai could be in trouble if ChatGPT expanded into more visualization tools, as the platform shares about half of its customers.

Jasper AI–A higher priced, similar service losing share to ChatGPT

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In contrast to Leonardo.ai, market incumbent Jasper.AI lost share of its customer’s AI wallet to ChatGPT in 2023. The $49 per month platform caters to users looking for both image and text generation, while ChatGPT is largely focused on generative text. Nevertheless Jasper AI had a large enough overlap in its use case that users appear to have abandoned the platform for the cheaper $20 per month ChatGPT subscription, likely tempted by the latter’s freemium model, instead of Jasper AI’s 1-week limited time trial.

Jasper AI’s loss of market and wallet share could have been what prompted the platform to pivot to professional services in October 2023, with an announcement they would work towards becoming a marketing solution. 

Before ChatGPT’s 2023 market entrance, few people used or paid for an AI service. Nevertheless there were AI platforms catering to early adopters before ChatGPT. Some were heavily disrupted by the newcomer, while others used their differentiated customer base and product to hold their own. The question remains how large the market for paid AI tools really is, and how much consumers are willing to pay.