Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude, appears to have significantly benefited from the heightened public attention surrounding the company's challenging negotiations with the Pentagon.
As initially reported by CNBC, by Saturday afternoon, Claude had ascended to the number two position among free applications in Apple’s US App Store. This places it directly behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which holds the top spot, and ahead of Google Gemini, which ranks third.
According to data provided by SensorTower, Claude was just outside the top 100 at the end of January and spent the majority of February within the top 20. Its ranking has seen a rapid ascent over the past few days, climbing from sixth place on Wednesday, to fourth on Thursday, and ultimately reaching second by Saturday.
This surge in visibility comes after Anthropic sought to negotiate safeguards aimed at preventing the Department of Defense from utilizing its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. Following these negotiations, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to discontinue the use of all Anthropic products, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the designation of the company as a supply-chain threat.
Subsequently, OpenAI announced its own agreement with the Pentagon, an accord which CEO Sam Altman stated includes similar safeguards related to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.
The Editorial Staff at AIChief is a team of professional content writers with extensive experience in AI and marketing. Founded in 2025, AIChief has quickly grown into the largest free AI resource hub in the industry.