Anthropic's Claude grabs top spot in App Store after Trump's ban

Source: Engadget

Background

Anthropic may have lost out on doing business with the U.S. government, but it has gained enough popularity to earn the number‑one spot on the App Store’s Top Free Apps leaderboard. Claude beat both ChatGPT and Google Gemini, which sit at the second and third spots on Apple’s free‑apps charts.

Trump’s Ban

The surge in downloads follows news that President Trump has barred any federal agency from using Anthropic’s Claude or other AI tools after the company refused to concede on certain guardrails. Anthropic declined to have its AI models used for mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, and was subsequently threatened with a “supply‑chain risk” label by Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The public spat sparked a wave of user support that helped Claude dethrone OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app on the App Store.

Reactions

While OpenAI has moved into Anthropic’s space after agreeing to a deal with the Department of Defense, its CEO offered thoughts on the debacle during an AMA on X. Although Claude is a competing model, Sam Altman said Anthropic’s supply‑chain risk designation was “a very bad decision” that he hopes will be reversed. He also called the blacklisting “an extremely scary precedent,” but expressed optimism for a better resolution.