The Numbers Game

Martin Shkreli, better known as "Pharma Bro," dropped some interesting AI traffic data on Tuesday that got people talking for all the right and wrong reasons. According to his post on X, users spent a collective 55 billion minutes on leading AI websites last month. That's a lot of ChatGPT conversations about whether hot dogs are sandwiches.

The data shows OpenAI's ChatGPT absolutely dominating the landscape with 64% of total user minutes, while Alphabet Inc. (GOOG)'s Gemini claimed 15%. So together, these two platforms are eating up nearly 80% of all the time people spend chatting with AI.

Shkreli's post included a detailed table breaking down user minutes in millions for all major AI sites during November 2025, complete with market share percentages and year-over-year growth figures. The source of this data? Unspecified, which is always a great start.

The Rockets In The Room

Among the interesting takeaways, Shkreli pointed out that only two platforms are showing growth trajectories that could potentially challenge the big two: China's Deepseek and xAI's Grok. And we're talking about explosive growth here. Deepseek posted a 7,725% year-over-year increase, while Grok absolutely crushed it with 23,300% growth. Of course, it's easier to show massive percentage gains when you're starting from a smaller base.

The Pushback Gets Real

Here's where things get spicy. Biotech investor Peter Suzman wasn't having it. He called Shkreli's analysis "pretty deceptive," and he makes a solid point. Not all AI platforms are playing the same game.

Take Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)-backed Anthropic, for example. Their Claude AI is laser-focused on revenue-producing corporate users rather than chasing consumer engagement metrics. Suzman argued that Claude is "by all accounts well ahead in the programming race," which means judging it by visits and user minutes is like evaluating a Ferrari based on how many cup holders it has.

The criticism highlights a fundamental question in the AI wars: What actually defines success? Raw user engagement? Revenue per user? Technical capability? The answer probably depends on who's writing the checks.

Google's Comeback Story

Speaking of competitive dynamics, there's been a fascinating shift in the AI hierarchy lately. Google's Gemini 3, which launched on November 18, has been gaining serious momentum. So much so that it apparently triggered some alarm bells over at OpenAI headquarters.

Reports suggest OpenAI was forced to pump the brakes on its monetization roadmap, which included plans for search ads, agentic shopping features, and other revenue-generating initiatives. Instead, the company is reportedly refocusing on quality issues and keeping its massive user base from wandering off to check out what Google's been cooking up.

That's a pretty significant strategic pivot when you think about it. When you're the market leader but feel compelled to abandon revenue opportunities to shore up your core product, that tells you something about how seriously you're taking the competition.

The Stock Perspective

For investors watching this space, Alphabet (GOOG) shares dipped 0.51% on Tuesday, closing at $307.73, and were up 0.07% in overnight trading. The stock scores high on Momentum, Growth and Quality metrics, with favorable price trends across short, medium and long-term timeframes.

The battle for AI dominance is clearly heating up, and it's becoming increasingly clear that there's no single metric that tells the whole story. User minutes matter, sure, but so do revenue, technical capabilities, and enterprise adoption. The companies that figure out how to excel across multiple dimensions will be the ones still standing when the dust settles.