Quick Facts
- Claude overtook ChatGPT to claim the No. 1 App Store position following Anthropic’s dispute with the Pentagon over AI safety restrictions
- The Defense Department designated Anthropic a supply chain risk after the company refused to remove guardrails preventing mass surveillance and autonomous weapons use
- Daily Claude signups hit record highs, with free users up 60% since January and paid subscribers more than doubling this year
Anthropic’s Claude AI assistant reached the top spot in the App Store following the company’s high-profile dispute with the Pentagon over artificial intelligence safety restrictions. Claude overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT on Saturday evening and maintained its position through Sunday morning.
The surge came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply chain risk on Friday. The move followed Anthropic’s refusal to remove safety guardrails from a $200 million military contract. The company had insisted on restrictions preventing the use of Claude for mass surveillance on Americans and fully autonomous weapons.
“We cannot in good conscience accept the Pentagon’s terms,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said. He cited concerns that current AI technology lacks the reliability needed for autonomous weapons and that mass domestic surveillance would violate fundamental rights.
Claude’s App Store climb was dramatic. The app sat outside the top 100 at the end of January and spent most of February in the top 20. It jumped from sixth place on Wednesday to fourth on Thursday, then claimed first place by Saturday.
The supply chain risk designation means no contractor, supplier, or partner doing business with the U.S. military can conduct commercial activity with Anthropic. This could affect the company’s enterprise customer base, as companies with government contracts would need to prove they don’t use Anthropic services.
Hours after Anthropic’s punishment, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced his company struck a Pentagon deal to supply AI to classified military networks. Altman stated the agreement includes the same red lines that were disputed with Anthropic.
Despite competing with Anthropic, Altman called the supply chain risk designation “a very bad decision” and “an extremely scary precedent.” When asked about potential future disputes, Altman said “Yes, I am. If we have to take on that fight we will, but it clearly exposes us to some risk.”
The Pentagon contract was worth up to $200 million, relatively small compared to Anthropic’s reported $14-18 billion in annual revenue. The company is valued at $380 billion, up from $61.5 billion in March 2025.
Claude has 18.9 million monthly active users worldwide, far below ChatGPT’s 800 million. However, the company reported record-breaking daily signups throughout the week following the Pentagon dispute.
The conflict has fueled consumer interest in Claude as some social media users call for abandoning ChatGPT over OpenAI’s Pentagon deal. The Instagram account “quitGPT” gained about 10,000 followers, and a Reddit post about canceling ChatGPT received 30,000 upvotes.
Former Pentagon AI leader Jack Shanahan said the government “painting a bullseye on Anthropic garners spicy headlines, but everyone loses in the end.” He called Anthropic’s red lines “reasonable.”
Over 330 employees from Google and OpenAI signed an open letter supporting Anthropic’s stance. Anthropic said it was “deeply saddened” by the Pentagon’s decision and vowed to “challenge any supply chain risk designation in court.”
Legal experts noted this marks the first time the U.S. has designated an American company a supply chain risk in apparent retaliation for not agreeing to contract terms.
Read more: Anthropic’s Claude rises to No. 1 in the App Store following Pentagon dispute
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