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Banned by the Pentagon, No.1 on the App Store: How Claude Surged Amid Controversy
Political conflict over AI is raging in the US, but amid this controversy, Anthropic's Cloud app suddenly became the No. 1 app in the App Store. It surpassed ChatGPT and Google Gemini in downloads.
Anthropic’s AI chatbot app, Claude, led Apple’s US free app chart late Saturday night. The increase in downloads occurred as the Trump administration began to restrict federal agencies from using the company’s AI technology.
The controversy escalated when Anthropic refused to use its AI for large-scale domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons. This resulted in a head-on collision with the US defense system.
US President Donald Trump expressed his criticism of the company on Truth Social, stating that Anthropic is attempting to impose its will on the Department of Defense. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that he has asked for the company to be identified as a national security supply chain risk. If this happens, US defense contractors will be unable to use the company's tools.
Responding to this, the company's CEO, Dario Amodei, stated that the Department of Defense reserves the right to select contractors according to its vision, but expressed hope that officials will reconsider considering the company's technology's contribution to military use.
