Anthropic’s chatbot Claude appears to have gained from the public focus on the company’s tense negotiations with the Pentagon. As of Saturday afternoon, Claude is currently ranked number two among free apps in Apple’s US App Store. The number one app is OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google Gemini holds the number three position.
Data indicates Claude was just outside the top 100 at the end of January and spent most of February somewhere in the top 20. Its ranking has climbed significantly in recent days, moving from sixth on Wednesday to fourth on Thursday, and finally to second on Saturday.
This surge follows a series of events. Anthropic had attempted to negotiate safeguards to prevent the Department of Defense from using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. In response, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using all Anthropic products, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth moved to designate the company a supply-chain threat.
Subsequently, OpenAI announced its own agreement with the Pentagon. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated this deal includes technical safeguards related to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.