Given the rising interest in generative AI tools like text-based ChatGPT and image-based Midjourney, AI-powered apps are growing in numbers and popularity in both app stores. A report by analytics firm Apptopia suggests that 158 AI Chatbot apps -- with the description having keywords like "AI Chat" or "AI Chatbot" -- hit the app stores in the first quarter of this year. The data suggests that multiple apps like Nova AI, Genie AI and Chat with Ask AI have broken into top charts in app stores -- a lot of these apps are similarly named, so it's easy to get confused between them. At the time of writing, Chat with Ask AI is on the top 10 free apps list on iOS in multiple countries. Apptopia mentions in the report that developers are trying to convert AI chatbot tech, which is easily available on a web browser, into a native mobile experience and charging money for it.

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by the pandemic has slowed down. But overall, the app economy is continuing to grow, having produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to multiple year-end reports. Global spending across iOS and Google Play last year was $133 billion, and consumers downloaded 143.6 billion apps. This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.

Lensa AI's popularity has had a notable impact on the App Store's Top Charts. The popular photo and video editing app recently went viral over its new "magic avatars" feature, powered by the open source Stable Diffusion model, allowing users to turn their selfies into styled portraits of themselves as sci-fi, anime, or fantasy characters, among other artistic renderings. Consumer demand for the app, and for AI edits more broadly, has now pushed numerous other "AI" apps into the U.S. App Store's Top Charts. As of Monday, the top three spots on the U.S. App Store are all held by AI photo editors, and even more AI art apps are newly ranking in the Top 100. The No. 1 spot on the U.S. App Store, however, continues to be held by Lensa AI, which saw 12.6 million global installs in the first 11 days of December, up 600% from the 1.8 million installs it saw during a similar time frame in November (November 20 through November 30), according to new data from App Store intelligence firm Sensor Tower.