Anthropic’s chatbot Claude surged to the top of the Apple US App Store’s free applications list on Saturday, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT amid a dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over safety protocols.
The application’s ranking rose rapidly throughout February, climbing from outside the top 100 at the end of January to sixth place on Wednesday and fourth on Thursday. According to data from SensorTower, this growth occurred alongside increased visibility regarding the company’s negotiations with the Department of Defense.
Anthropic reported that daily signups have broken company records every day this week. The company stated that free users have increased more than 60% since January and that paid subscribers have more than doubled this year.
President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using all Anthropic products following the negotiations. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply-chain threat after the company sought safeguards preventing the Department of Defense from using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
OpenAI subsequently announced its own agreement with the Pentagon. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that this agreement includes safeguards regarding domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.
