Anthropic’s chatbot Claude seems to have benefited from the attention around the company’s fraught negotiations with the Pentagon.

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Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot climbed to the number one spot in Apple's US App Store free app rankings, overtaking ChatGPT. The surge follows public attention around Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon, where the company sought safeguards against using its AI for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons, leading the Trump administration to designate Anthropic a supply-chain threat. Anthropic reports daily signups hitting all-time records every day this week, free users up over 60% since January, and paid subscribers more than doubling this year. OpenAI separately announced its own Pentagon deal, claiming it includes similar safeguards.

Anthropic’s Claude rises to No. 1 in the App Store following Pentagon dispute

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