Claude users in South Korea surge tenfold in a year, chasing ChatGPT and Gemini [Daily IT Pick]

[Financial News] Anthropic’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) service Claude is rapidly gaining users in South Korea. Its mobile app user base has grown at least tenfold in a year, driven by its work-focused uses, including document writing and analysis, and coding. As ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini maintain their lead in South Korea’s generative AI market, competition to attract users through differentiated features is also intensifying.
On the 10th, according to app and payment data analytics firm WiseApp Retail, the monthly active users (MAU) of the Claude app in South Korea reached 5 million in October, an all-time high. That was a 975.6% increase from 460,000 in the same month last year.
Claude’s user count has risen month over month for 14 consecutive months, since reaching 420,000 in September last year, through October this year. The growth is notable because it shows the service’s user base among mobile users in South Korea continuing to expand, rather than reflecting a temporary influx over a short period.
Claude, a generative AI developed by Anthropic, is used to analyze lengthy documents, organize complex material, and write software code. It is targeting demand for workplace AI, particularly with its ability to handle long documents and support coding. More recently, it has broadened its range of uses by enhancing its agent capabilities, which enable AI to perform tasks involving multiple steps.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT had the largest user base in South Korea’s generative AI app market. In October, ChatGPT recorded 25.51 million MAU, ranking first among the services surveyed. Its user base was about 5.1 times Claude’s, and it continued to maintain a high usage rate among smartphone users in South Korea.
ChatGPT is a general-purpose AI service offering a range of features, from answering everyday questions and searching for information to writing documents, generating images, voice conversations, and coding. It has expanded its user base through use in many areas, including education and work, as well as by individual users.
Google’s Gemini ranked second with 9.14 million users. It touts its integration with Google’s existing services, including Google Search, Gmail, and Docs, as a key strength. The company is pursuing a strategy of integrating AI features into everyday services, drawing on Android smartphones and the Google ecosystem.
Microsoft Copilot ranked fourth with 1.95 million users. A key feature of Copilot is its integration with workplace software such as Windows and Microsoft 365. It is expanding its use in the enterprise AI market, particularly for document writing, summarizing materials, and improving workplace productivity.
Search-focused Perplexity AI ranked fifth with 1.34 million users. It aims to distinguish itself from traditional search services by answering users’ questions while also providing sources for related information. Grok, developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, followed with 1.29 million users. Grok touts its integration with the social media platform X and its use of real-time information as key features.
South Korean services A. from SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (SKT) and Wrtn had 890,000 and 370,000 users, respectively. A. is expanding its user reach through AI features related to phone calls and personal assistant services, while Wrtn offers conversation and content-generation features using various AI models.
Google’s Gemini Notebook, which supports summarization and analysis based on documents, recorded 730,000 users, while Manus, an AI agent service, had 300,000. Notably, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini Notebook each recorded their highest-ever user numbers in October.
The figures were calculated based on a sample survey conducted by WiseApp Retail of Android and iOS smartphone users in South Korea. The estimated total population covered was 51.39 million, and the actual number of users may differ. Use through PC websites was not included in the survey. 
[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter