Amid Anthropic Pentagon dispute, Claude becomes top-rated app on US App Store

In the midst of an ongoing dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic, Anthropic's Claude, a chatbot, has become the top-rated app on the App Store.

The point to note here is that Claude surpassed OpenAI's ChatGPT to clinch the number one spot on Apple's US App Store after Anthropic's negotiations regarding the use of its AI models.

Claude's such rapid rise is nothing short of phenomenal.

At the end of January, Claude was out of the top 100, but it steadily surged in ranks throughout February. By Wednesday, it secured the sixth position. It moved to fourth by Thursday, and finally reached first place on Saturday.

These ranks have been depicted in the data released by SensorTower. It showed the app saw unprecedented growth, with daily signups breaking all-time records and free users increasing by over 60% since January.

It was also found out that Claude's paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year, indicating a strong user interest.

Claude's quick ascent coincides with Anthropic's negotiations to secure protection against the Department of Defense's use of its AI models for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.

Trump labels Anthropic a supply-chain threat

In response, US President Donald Trump banned Anthropic products from being used by federal agencies, labelling the company a supply-chain threat.

On the heels of this, OpenAI announced its own agreement with the Pentagon, which reportedly includes similar safeguards.