People are getting bored of AI photo apps

Recent figures show a large drop off in consumer interest in AI image apps.

There is seemingly a new story about something AI related every day of the week now. From new, impressive uses of ChatGPT through to photographers embracing AI image generators like Midjourney, the march into the artificial intelligence future is seemingly unabated. Or is it?

Recent figures show a big slump in consumer interest in AI photo apps at least. According to the app intelligence firm Apptopia, the AI photo app bubble may have finally burst. The company shared its findings with TechCrunch, and the fall in interest from app users has been as quick as the initial rise.

The data shows that at their peak in December 2022, AI photos apps were generating around 4.3 million downloads per day and around $1.8 million per day in user spending. However, only a month or so on and those figures have dropped to around 952,000 daily downloads and only $507,000 in daily spending, with the fall continuing.

Why the slump?

Part of the downfall of apps such as Lensa is the question of ethics, with apps gaining notoriety for all the wrong reasons. The question of how the AI systems have been trained, and the similarity of outputs to existing artists works has left a sour taste for some. Another problem is one of boredom. Data shows that a good number of users have downloaded apps to try out, and then once they've given them a couple of goes the novelty has worn off.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, it seems we're no longer surprised at what AI can do, and with the app market now flooded with a deluge of very similar software, it seems we just can't be bothered with it any more.

It's hardly surprising. AI image generation was always going to go through a 'wow' period before settling down. But the above data doesn't signal the death knell for AI image apps. It means that the technology can now begin maturing, and find useful ways to be applied, be that serious image editing or for realistic visualisations, such as for police photofits.

Regardless of AI's recent legal woes, it's here to stay and it will only get better. We just need to be sure we get to grips with the ethical side of things, because we're entering a future where we really don't trust anything we see. This has been compounded recently by scammers using AI generated images of the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey to fool people into donating money.