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🥇 3 takeaways from top generative AI apps

Juan Delgadillo

• 4 min read
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Welcome back, folks! This week's issue comes with 3 key takeaways from the top generative AI apps. We hope you enjoy it!

💬 In this week's letter:

  • Analysis. What generative AI apps people are actually using, which behaviors and categories are gaining traction among consumers, and which AI apps are people returning to, versus dabbling and dropping.

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3 takeaways from top generative AI apps

Keeping up with the ever-expanding universe of consumer generative AI products is a dynamic, fast-moving job, whether you’re building time-saving new workflows, exploring real–world uses, or experimenting with new creative tools.

But amid the overwhelm of product launches, investment announcements, and hyped-up features, it’s worth asking: Which of these generative AI apps are people actually using? Which behaviors and categories are gaining traction among consumers? And which AI apps are people returning to, versus dabbling and dropping?

The venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) released the top takeaways from their third installment of the top 100 generative AI consumer apps analysis.

Here are the key insights:

1. Creative tools dominate; video and music on the rise

The magic of creative tools continues to draw in consumers. Fifty-two percent of the companies on the web list are focused on content generation or editing, across modalities — image, video, music, speech, and more. Of the 12 new entrants, 58% are in the creative tool space.

This included four of the top five first-time listmakers by rank: Luma (#14), Viggle (#21), SeaArt (#29), and Udio (#33). And the biggest leap in the past six months was music generator Suno, which rose from #36 to #5.

In our prior lists, the majority of content generation tools focused on image. Over the last six months, other modalities have gained steam: image generation only represents 41% of the top content generative sites. And of the five generation tools that made the list for the first time, only one, SeaArt, is in image. Video saw three new entrants (Luma, Viggle, and Vidnoz) and music saw one (Udio) — both modalities have seen massive leaps forward in output quality over the past year.

What about on mobile? Content editing for image and video is the most common use. At 22% of the listmakers, it’s the second largest product category of the mobile ranks — users are eager to edit the content on their phones. While startups are emerging here as well, many of the highest-ranking new entrants to the list are legacy creative tools that have pivoted to become generative AI-first, like Meitu (#9), SNOW (#30), and Adobe Express (#35).

2. Competing assistants challenge ChatGPT

For the third time, ChatGPT is the #1 product on web and mobile by a large margin. But the competition to be the best consumer assistant is heating up.

Perplexity is now #3 on web — the AI-powered search engine focuses on delivering concise, real-time, and accurate answers to queries, with cited sources. Perplexity slightly edges out ChatGPT in visit duration (at over seven minutes) according to Similarweb data, suggesting that users are deeply engaged. Perplexity also made the top 50 mobile list for the first time.

Anthropic’s Claude, arguably even more of a direct ChatGPT competitor, entered the top five on web at #4, up from #10 in the prior ranking. The company recently launched Artifacts, which goes head-to-head with ChatGPT’s GPTs.

On mobile, AI assistant Luzia debuted at #25 — the company claims 45 million users worldwide, primarily Spanish speakers. Luzia initially launched as a WhatsApp-based chatbot, but debuted a standalone mobile app in December 2023.

3. A new category debuts: aesthetics and dating

Across both web and mobile, there was only one new category: aesthetics and dating. This encompasses three new entrants: LooksMax AI (#43), Umax (#44), and RIZZ (#49), all ranked on the mobile list.

LooksMax and Umax ingest photos of the user, rate them, and give “tips” to become more attractive. Umax also generates pictures of what the user would look like as a 10/10, while LooksMax analyzes the user’s voice for attractiveness. In their app onboarding screens, LooksMax claims more than 2 million users, while Umax claims 1 million.

Both apps monetize via subscription to unlock results: Umax costs $4.99 per week (or invitations to three friends), and LooksMax is $3.99 per week.

RIZZ, on the other hand, focuses on upleveling dating app messages. Users can upload a conversation screenshot or profile and get suggestions on what to say. Messages can be copied directly from RIZZ into dating apps.

It’s clear that a new generation of AI-native products and companies are growing faster and engaging users more deeply than ever before. We believe that over the coming decade, AI will underpin category-defining companies. – A16z

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