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Anthropic's Claude App Surges Amid Pentagon Dispute

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Following a dispute with the Pentagon, Anthropic's Claude app has seen a significant increase in daily active users and app installations. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused the U.S. government's request to use its AI for surveillance and autonomous weapons, leading to Claude being labeled a supply-chain risk. However, this stance has seemingly bolstered consumer support:

  • App Intelligence Statistics: Reports from Appfigures indicate that Claude's mobile app downloads in the U.S. surpassed those of ChatGPT, with 149,000 daily downloads vs. 124,000.
  • Market Presence: Data from Similarweb show Claude's daily active users rose to 11.3 million on March 2, marking a 183% increase since the beginning of the year.
  • Global Popularity: Claude claimed the top position on the U.S. App Store and is also No. 1 in 15 other countries.
  • Growth in Web Traffic: Claude saw a 43% increase in web traffic month-over-month in February, contributing to a year-over-year growth of 297.7%, despite still lagging behind top competitors.
  • Impact on ChatGPT: ChatGPT's app uninstalls have surged, suggesting a shift toward Claude.

Anthropic spokespersons noted that active users have tripled and paid subscribers have doubled since early 2026, though they refrained from commenting on third-party data.