The Wild Claim
The viral headline made it sound like OpenAI’s servers basically powered down the second finals season ended. A 70% nosedive in traffic. The implication: if kids aren’t stressing about algebra and teachers aren’t assigning essays, ChatGPT just sits there twiddling its digital thumbs.
And honestly? That story is just too good not to believe.
The Boring Truth
Except, yeah, not quite. While usage does dip once school is out, the real numbers are a lot less dramatic. Depending on who you ask, ChatGPT traffic actually dropped more like 20–50%. Sites like SimilarWeb, Business Insider, and Futurism all reported a noticeable slump, but nothing close to the apocalyptic “70% collapse” that clickbait headlines were shouting.
It’s still interesting - and it still confirms what we all suspected: ChatGPT is a homework machine. But it’s not like students and teachers together form 70% of OpenAI’s business. That’s just the internet rounding up… way up.
And let’s be real: half those articles were probably written by ChatGPT anyway.
So, Is This a Problem?
Yes. Kind of. But not in the way people are making it out to be. Students relying too heavily on AI to crank out assignments? Definitely an issue. Teachers feeding the same AI those assignments to “review”? Also an issue.
But the idea that education is now just ChatGPT handing in essays to itself, slapping a grade on it, and calling it a day - that’s more comedy than reality.
Final Thought
So no, ChatGPT didn’t lose 70% of its traffic overnight. The truth is more modest: a predictable summer slump tied to the school calendar. Kids stop needing homework help, teachers stop assigning essays, and usage dips.
It’s a reminder that AI really has wormed its way into classrooms in ways we’re still figuring out. And while that’s a problem worth paying attention to, it’s not the homework apocalypse some headlines want you to believe.
For now, at least, ChatGPT isn’t entirely stuck in a Groundhog Day loop of grading its own work. But admit it — that’s a hilarious mental image.
