tech
March 2, 2026
Anthropic’s AI model Claude gets popularity boost after US military feud
Claude climbs to top of app store charts in US and UK after being blacklisted by Pentagon over ethics concerns
TL;DR
- Claude, an AI model by Anthropic, became the No. 1 free app on Apple's charts in the US.
- The popularity surge followed the Pentagon blacklisting Claude over ethics concerns.
- Anthropic experienced unprecedented demand, leading to outages and record sign-ups.
- Disagreements with the Pentagon centered on the AI's use for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.
- The federal government accused Anthropic of overstepping, while Donald Trump criticized their actions.
- OpenAI's ChatGPT was selected by the Trump administration after negotiations with Anthropic failed.
- Some users, including Katy Perry, switched from ChatGPT to Claude.
- Anthropic's paid plans offer a memory feature to ease user transition.
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