[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] Google's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Gemini has emerged as the fastest-growing AI website, outpacing major rival services.

On March 10, IT outlet PhoneArena reported, citing data from web analytics firm Similarweb, that visitors to Gemini's website rose 643 percent in February 2026 from a year earlier. It was the highest growth rate among major AI chatbot services.

Over the same period, Grok rose 480 percent and Claude climbed 297 percent. By contrast, ChatGPT increased 39 percent, and Perplexity also posted growth of about 39 percent. DeepSeek, a chatbot from a Chinese AI company, was the only major service to post a steep decline, with website traffic down about 56 percent over the same period.

The data should be interpreted with care because they are compiled solely on the number of visits to chatbot websites. Usage of mobile apps or desktop applications was not included, and Gemini-based AI summary features that are automatically displayed in Google search results were also excluded.

For this reason, the figures are assessed as reflecting only growth in cases where users directly visited and used the Gemini website, rather than AI features shown in search results. The industry interprets this as a sign that awareness of and interest in Gemini are rising quickly.

The AI chatbot market has seen competition intensify rapidly in recent years. OpenAI's ChatGPT sparked the AI boom and led the market, followed by the arrival of various rival services such as Anthropic's Claude and xAI's Grok.

In the early AI race, Google was viewed as relatively behind. After the launch of Gemini, it is analysed as rapidly expanding its user base through links with its search service and a strategy to integrate across the Google ecosystem.

In particular, Google is gradually integrating AI functions based on its search platform, which has the largest number of users globally. Analysis suggests the strategy could work in Gemini's favour in securing new users.

Web and app interfaces are also viewed as important factors in the AI service experience. Users tend to prefer platforms with high accessibility and convenience, and Gemini, closely connected to Google Search, is seen as competitive in this respect.

The industry sees future AI chatbot competition as likely to centre not only on model performance but also on integration with broader ecosystems such as search, productivity tools and mobile platforms. Attention is focused on whether Gemini can maintain its current growth and expand market share.