U.S. downloads of Anthropic’s Claude AI surged after the company declined a partnership with the Department of Defense, while downloads of OpenAI’s ChatGPT fell following its own deal with the agency.
The shifts represent a significant realignment in the competitive AI application market, driven by public sentiment regarding military contracts. Market data indicates a direct consumer response to the opposing stances on defense contracts, with Claude surpassing ChatGPT in daily U.S. downloads for the first time. Sensor Tower data shows ChatGPT’s uninstall rate surged to a level far exceeding its typical daily average, while Claude’s weekly downloads increased approximately 20-fold compared to January levels.
On Saturday, February 28, U.S. uninstalls of ChatGPT’s mobile app surged 295% day-over-day following news of OpenAI’s deal with the DoD, according to Sensor Tower. This spike contrasted with ChatGPT’s typical day-over-day uninstall rate of 9% over the previous 30 days. Conversely, U.S. downloads of Claude increased 37% day-over-day on Friday, February 27, and 51% on Saturday, February 28, per Sensor Tower. Appfigures reported a higher increase of 88% day-over-day on Saturday, noting that Claude’s daily downloads surpassed ChatGPT’s for the first time.
ChatGPT’s U.S. downloads dropped 13% day-over-day on Saturday after the DoD deal news went public and fell an additional 5% on Sunday. Before the partnership announcement, the app’s downloads had grown 14% day-over-day on Friday. Consumer ratings reflected the download trends, with 1-star reviews for ChatGPT surging 775% day-over-day on Saturday and growing another 100% on Sunday, according to Sensor Tower. Five-star reviews for ChatGPT declined by 50% during the same period.
Claude reached No. 1 on the U.S. App Store on Saturday, a jump of over 20 ranks from roughly a week earlier, and remained at that position as of Monday, March 2. The app also became the No. 1 free iPhone app in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland. Anthropic stated it could not agree on defense deal terms due to concerns about AI surveillance and autonomous weaponry.
Similarweb reported that Claude’s U.S. downloads over the past week were approximately 20 times their January levels, though it noted this could be due to factors beyond the political issues. OpenAI is a research organization focused on artificial intelligence. Anthropic is an AI safety and research company. Sensor Tower, Appfigures, and Similarweb are market intelligence providers tracking app performance.
