Based on comprehensive data from the Similarweb Investor Intelligence Report (as of March 28, 2025), here's a detailed analysis of the current generative AI market across various sectors.
Overall AI Market Trends
The AI tools market has experienced significant growth, showing a 45% year-over-year (YoY) increase in the 12 weeks ending March 28, 2025. This represents a substantial improvement over the 20% growth recorded in mid-March 2025, indicating rapid market expansion.
Two areas, in particular, demonstrated exceptional growth:
- DevOps and code completion tools showed a remarkable 125% YoY increase.
- Data analysis tools led all categories with a 177% YoY growth.
Category-Specific Analysis
General-Purpose AI Tools (50% YoY Growth)
General-purpose AI tools, primarily ChatGPT and similar platforms, rebounded strongly after a contraction in early January 2025, achieving 50% YoY growth. These tools perform various automation tasks through chat and search interfaces, potentially disrupting search engines, discussion forums, social media, and educational technology.
Key performers include:
- OpenAI (38% YoY growth)
- Deepseek (exceptional growth at 1,688% YoY)
- Google's AI products (50% growth)
- Perplexity (52% growth)
- Claude (Anthropic) strong rebound with 61% YoY growth
DevOps and Code Completion (125% YoY Growth)
This category displayed the most consistent growth throughout the period, reaching 125% YoY by the end of March. These tools assist developers in writing, testing, and debugging software code by analyzing existing code and predicting the most suitable next part.
Standout performers include:
- Cursor (151% YoY growth)
- Lovable (650% YoY growth)
- Replit (73% YoY growth)
Data Analysis (177% YoY Growth)
Data analysis tools boasted the highest growth rate of all categories, at 177% YoY, experiencing significant acceleration since February 2025 (when growth was 42%).
Role-Playing and Chat AI (-7% YoY Growth)
These tools, derived from general-purpose AI platforms, aim to mimic the language and habits of specific users, showing a 7% YoY decline. Market leader Character AI saw an 8% YoY decline, while smaller competitors like Chai (15% YoY growth) showed some positive momentum.
Design and Image Generation (11% YoY Growth)
After a contraction in early 2025, this area has recovered to 11% YoY growth. These tools enable users to generate custom art and images through text prompts or simple UIs.
Key players include:
- Deepai (26% YoY growth)
- Leonardo (17% YoY growth)
- Midjourney (10% YoY growth)
- Getimg (significant growth at 155% YoY)
Writing and Content Generation (14% YoY Growth)
After a contraction in early 2025, writing and content generation tools rebounded to 14% YoY growth by the end of March. These tools can generate and analyze various publications, from short articles to long-form papers and reports.
Notable performers include:
- Originality (36% YoY growth)
- Surferseo (29% YoY growth)
- Tome (20% YoY growth)
Speech Generation (14% YoY Growth)
Speech generation tools showed steady improvement with 14% YoY growth. These platforms allow users to generate natural audio from text or edit existing audio using style parameters.
Market leaders include:
- Elevenlabs (18% YoY growth)
- Naturalreaders (20% YoY growth)
- Speechify (30% YoY growth)
Video Generation (-1% YoY Growth)
Video generation tools continue to face challenges, with a slight 1% YoY decline, although this is an improvement from earlier, larger contractions. These tools allow users to generate custom animations or simulated videos from text prompts.
Some highlights include:
- Heygen (31% YoY growth)
- Descript (17% YoY growth)
Music Generation (-4% YoY Growth)
Music generation tools contracted by 4% YoY, although individual companies like Aiva (90% YoY growth) and Boomy (63% YoY growth) performed strongly.
Traditional Industries Impacted
The report identifies several traditional industries facing disruption from generative AI tools:
Traditional EdTech (-25% YoY Growth)
The traditional educational technology sector continues to decline, with a 25% YoY drop and a worsening trend. Notable platforms experiencing significant contractions include:
- Chegg (-64% YoY)
- Coursehero (-60% YoY)
- Mathway (-44% YoY)
Digital Freelancing (-18% YoY Growth)
Freelancing platforms continue to face challenges, with an 18% YoY decline, possibly due to reduced demand for certain freelance services with the adoption of AI tools.
Website and Store Builders (-9% YoY Growth)
Website and e-commerce building platforms show a 9% YoY decline, but this trend appears to be stabilizing, with some platforms like Square (9% YoY growth) and Shopify (-2% YoY) showing improvement.
Traditional Search Engines (-1% YoY Growth)
Search engines saw a slight 1% YoY decline, with Google maintaining stable traffic (0% YoY), while competitors like Yahoo (-8% YoY) and Bing (-8% YoY) experienced more significant drops.
Design Platforms (18% YoY Growth)
Design platforms showed resilience, with 18% YoY growth, led by Canva (21% YoY growth) and Adobe Express (14% YoY growth).
Stock Media Websites (0% Growth Instead of Significant Decline)
Data suggests AI-generated image tools are impacting the traditional stock media market, but the impact is relatively small (overall market remains at 0% growth instead of a significant decline). This may indicate that despite the rapid development of AI image generation technology, professional stock websites retain their value and user base, especially those that adapt and integrate new technologies. The stock media market is undergoing a transformation. While the overall market size is stable (0%), the internal structure is changing. Platforms that can integrate with emerging fields like AI and e-commerce perform better. Traditional platforms like Shutterstock (-11%) and Adobe (-5%) show a downward trend, while Getty Images (22%) maintains steady growth. Platforms like Pixabay (17%) and Shopify (19%) show growth trends. Furthermore, Pixabay shifted from negative growth (-3%) to positive growth (17%), suggesting better integration of AI technology. Shopify's continued growth, from 2% to 19%, indicates a strengthening trend of e-commerce and media integration.
Discussion Forums (2% YoY Growth)
Discussion and Q&A forums saw minimal growth at 2% YoY. Reddit's growth slowed to 21% YoY, while Quora continued a significant decline (-43% YoY).
Market Outlook
As of March 2025, the overall generative AI market shows strong growth, particularly in developer tools and data analysis. The market appears to be transitioning from experimental adoption to practical implementation across multiple sectors, especially those requiring specialized technical skills.
Traditional industries facing the most significant disruption include educational technology, freelancing platforms, and to a lesser extent, website building and search engines. These trends suggest that generative AI is increasingly capable of replacing or augmenting tasks that previously required human expertise or specialized platforms.
The proliferation of generative AI tools is reshaping the ecosystems of multiple industries, and its impact is expected to continue expanding in the coming years. Businesses need to closely monitor these trends, adapting and integrating AI capabilities to remain competitive.
