Claude tops US App store as Anthropic clashes with Pentagon

Amid the ongoing clash between Anthropic and Pentagon over military use of artificial intelligence. Anthropic’s AI chatbot Claude seems to have benefited from the worldwide attention grappling the AI tech giant.  

As reported by CNBC, Claude’s usage has surged rising to the top of the free app rankings in Apple’s US App store. It overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT to claim the number one spot, a position that is still held on Sunday morning.  

Claude AI has been the most used chatbot and according to data from SensorTower, at the end of January Claude was just outside the top 100 list, and later spent most of February in the top 20.  

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The AI chatbot’s performance skyrocketed rapidly in the past few days, from sixth on Wednesday, to fourth on Thursday, then first on Saturday.

Broken all-time record 

A spokesperson of Claude AI said that people signing up daily have broken an all-time record every day this week. Free users have increased more than 60 per cent since January, and paid subscribers have increased this year.  

After Anthropic attempted to negotiate with the Department of Defence from using the AI models for military operation for mass domestic surveillance for fully autonomous weapons.  

“When we receive some kind of formal action, we will look at it, we will understand it and we will challenge it in court,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei vowed during an interview with CBS News.  

Trump stopped the usage of Anthropic 

US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that most government agencies must immediately stop using Anthropic’s AI but gave the Pentagon a six-month period to phase out the technology that is already embedded in military platforms.

Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said that he is designating the company a supply-chain threat.  

The Department of Defense’s move to label Anthropic a risk to the nation’s defense supply chain will end its up to $200 million contract with the AI company. It will also, according to the Pentagon, prohibit other defense contractors from doing business with Anthropic.

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OpenAI announced its agreement with the Pentagon, with CEO Sam Altman claiming to include domestic surveillance and autonomous weapon systems.  

But Altman said that the same AI restrictions that were the sticking point in Anthropic’s dispute with the Pentagon are now enshrined in OpenAI’s new partnership.