Anthropic’s AI chatbot, named Claude, has reached the top of the Apple App Store rankings in the United States, displacing OpenAI’s ChatGPT to become the most downloaded free app on the store. ChatGPT currently ranks second on the store, while Google’s Gemini ranks fourth.
The change in rankings comes amidst the current debate on the place of artificial intelligence in government and military operations. According to industry observers, the change reflects the way public opinion is increasingly impacting the competitive landscape of the biggest players in the AI space.
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Claude’s rise in the App Store charts marks one of the most visible changes in the AI market since large language models became mainstream consumer tools.
Debate over AI use by governments
The change in rankings follows a recent statement by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who announced on the social media platform X that OpenAI would work with the US Department of Defense to deploy artificial intelligence systems through classified networks.
The announcement drew criticism from sections of the technology community and triggered a wider debate about how AI should be used by governments.
Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 28, 2026
In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.
AI safety and wide distribution of…
Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei cautioned against the unchecked development and application of AI in areas such as home security and autonomous weapons. His views were widely circulated on the internet.
This issue was quickly politicised when the US President, Donald Trump, on his social media site named Truth Social, attacked Anthropic’s position on the matter and accused the company of trying to influence the government on defense issues.
Surge in downloads and new users
Anthropic told Mashable that user growth has accelerated sharply in recent months. The company said free users of Claude have increased by more than 60 percent since January, while daily sign-ups have tripled since November.
Paid subscriptions have also more than doubled this year, according to the company. Claude reportedly ranked 42nd on the US App Store charts before Super Bowl LX but has since remained among the top ten apps and eventually climbed to the number one position.
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This increase also reflects the idea that public discourse on the ethics of AI use is starting to influence user preferences in the burgeoning AI conversation platform marketplace.
As the leading AI developers compete for dominance, the rivalry between Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI systems is likely to be one of the greatest tech battles of the decade.
