Anthropic’s chatbot Claude has climbed to number two among free apps in Apple’s US App Store, following public negotiations between the company and the Pentagon over military access to its AI models.
As first reported by CNBC, Claude ranked second as of Saturday afternoon. The top position is held by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, while Google’s Gemini sits at number three.
App Store Rankings Climb Rapidly
Data from Sensor Tower shows Claude was just outside the top 100 at the end of January. Through most of February, the app remained within the top 20.
In recent days, its ranking rose further. Claude moved from sixth place on Wednesday to fourth on Thursday and then to second on Saturday.
Pentagon Negotiations And Federal Directive
The rise in rankings comes amid tensions between Anthropic and the US government.
After Anthropic sought safeguards to prevent the Department of Defense from using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using all Anthropic products.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he would designate Anthropic a supply-chain threat.
OpenAI Announces Pentagon Agreement
Following those developments, OpenAI announced it had reached its own agreement with the Pentagon.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the arrangement includes safeguards related to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.
Featured image credits: LAv1
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