ChatGPT: How Many Ecuadorians Use the Famous AI Chatbot?

Artificial intelligence (AI), conceived as a powerful technology capable of automating tasks and analyzing mountains of data, has existed for several decades. But it was not until the success of ChatGPT, the chatty bot from the company OpenAI, that it gained notoriety and now everyone is talking about AI.

The chatbot from OpenAI, founded as a 'non-profit' organization by Sam Altman, is a product derived from generative AI, which allows a friendlier approach for users without any prior technological knowledge. Based on this, millions of users have turned to OpenAI's program to write emails, novels, poems for their loved ones, books to later sell on Amazon, and even to ask it for psychological advice. 

How is ChatGPT adoption progressing in Ecuador?
The data from the latest 'Estado Digital' (Digital State) study, prepared by the consulting firm Mentinno, are revealing: visits to the chatbot's portal grew 7,825% in the last 12 months in the country.

Without a doubt, these numbers reaffirm, as the study's lead author, Juan Pablo del Alcázar, points out, that 2024 will be "a year of digital disruption, with ever higher levels of internet access, and routine adoption of artificial intelligence".

Visits in Ecuador
According to the Mentinno report, organic visits to ChatGPT in Ecuador began to grow in August 2023, going from 453,800 per month to more than 1.1 million in February of this year.

However, this number of visits does not necessarily mean that Ecuadorians used the system in every case. An internet user may enter the ChatGPT portal, explore its initial interface, but leave without asking the system a question or making a request. On the other hand, the Mentinno report states that in Ecuador, the portal of OpenAI, the company behind the chatbot, already has more organic visits than other well-known websites such as Netflix, CNN, or the Yahoo and Gmail email services. As of February 2024, the company has more than 1.1 million in organic traffic, behind only TikTok, Mercado Libre and LinkedIn.

ChatGTP and its hallucinations
To start using ChatGPT, you first need to sign up or log in with a username and password. But this step is simple, because you can link your account with other services you already use, from Google, Apple or Microsoft. Once you are in, the bot's main interface gives you several options: from writing texts, comparing files, or suggesting fun activities. There is also the option to ask it whatever you want: What are Ecuadorians like? In less than five seconds, ChatGTP turns to its trained algorithms and says that Ecuadorians are "very diverse, in terms of ethnicity, culture, religion and ways of life". It comments that we are "friendly and hospitable", that we like soccer, and even gives examples of typical food. So far nothing out of the ordinary, since the chatbot answers trivial questions 'well', but at times it makes up data and can make mistakes, something its critics call 'hallucinations'. This is because although it has been trained with a vast amount of data and information, it is not infallible, but its creators are working on it. Altman, one of Silicon Valley's geniuses and a 'prophet' of AI, is making giant strides in his intention to improve the chatbot's models, and is already announcing the fifth version of the system.