Claude App Tops Charts Amid Pentagon Ban

The AI model Claude has experienced a dramatic rise in popularity, reaching the top of app store charts in the US and UK, shortly after the Pentagon blacklisted it over ethical concerns. Last week, Claude dethroned OpenAI's ChatGPT to become the number one free app on Apple's US chart, although it did not unseat ChatGPT in the UK.

This surge in demand caused significant outages for Anthropic's services on Monday, with the company citing unprecedented usage. Throughout the previous week, Anthropic reported record-breaking daily sign-ups. This boom occurred even as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth identified Anthropic as a supply-chain risk due to CEO Dario Amodei's refusal to compromise on ethical red lines.

Amodei maintained stances against using AI for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, citing reliability and constitutional concerns. Despite these disputes, Anthropic's user base grew substantially, with free active users increasing by over 60% and daily sign-ups quadrupling. Paid subscribers also more than doubled, facilitated by features like an importable memory function that enhances user onboarding.