After DoD Bans Anthropic, It's AI Bot Surpasses ChatGPT As Most Popular

In a result counter to what the US Defense Department and White House anticipated, their banning of Anthropic for government use, due to the company's insistence that some uses were unacceptable, has spurred Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot to #1 in free downloads, surpassing OpenAI's ChatGPT, which opportunistically agreed to the Pentagon's demands. 

Claude has been rising in the rankings for months as word of its performance spread. And reports reveal that it is superior to any others, including OpenAI, for many of the uses the Pentagon requires. But the attempt to stigmatize Anthropic appears to have backfired, in a result reminiscent of what happened to Tesla when owner and CEO Elon Musk alienated his car's primary market by taking increasingly controversial political stances. It is noteworthy that Anthropic's objections were based on its research showing that AI was not yet capable of the tasks the Pentagon envisioned, as well as the company's concerns about the legality of some of those uses. It is not clear if a compromise can be reached between Anthropic and this administration, but the government and military are more likely to suffer from that than is the company. JL

 
Anthony Ha reports in Tech Crunch:

After President Trump directed federal agencies to stop using Anthropic products and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he’s designating the company a supply-chain threat, Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude has been rising to the top of the free app rankings in Apple’s US App Store. On Saturday evening, it overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT to claim the number one spot. Claude was just outside the top 100 at the end of January, and has spent most of February in the top 20. It’s climbed rapidly in the past few days, from sixth on Wednesday, to fourth on Thursday, then first on Saturday. Daily signups have broken the all-time record every day this week, free users have increased more than 60% since January, and paid subscribers have more than doubled.

Anthropic’s chatbot Claude seems to have benefited from the attention around the company’s fraught negotiations with the Pentagon.

As first reported by CNBC, Claude has been rising to the top of the free app rankings in Apple’s US App Store. On Saturday evening, it overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT to claim the number one spot, a position that it still held on Sunday morning.

According to data from SensorTower, Claude was just outside the top 100 at the end of January, and has spent most of February somewhere in the top 20. It’s climbed rapidly in the past few days, from sixth on Wednesday, to fourth on Thursday, then first on Saturday.

A company spokesperson said that daily signups have broken the all-time record every day this week, free users have increased more than 60% since January, and paid subscribers have more than doubled this year.

After Anthropic attempted to negotiate for safeguards preventing the Department of Defense from using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using all Anthropic products and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he’s designating the company a supply-chain threat.

OpenAI subsequently announced its own agreement with the Pentagon, which CEO Sam Altman claimed includes safeguards related to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.