OpenAI is having a rough week, U.S. uninstalls of its ChatGPT mobile app have reportedly jumped by around 294% day-over-day, a dramatic spike compared to its usual single-digit churn.
At the same time, one of its biggest rivals, Anthropic, is enjoying the opposite effect. Its AI assistant Claude has surged up the charts, even climbing to the No. 1 spot on Apple’s App Store in the U.S. For an AI race that usually revolves around model upgrades and benchmarks, this time, you can arguably point to the U.S. government as the catalyst.
So, what exactly happened? The backlash appears to be tied to OpenAI’s newly announced partnership with the U.S. Department of War (the Pentagon). Before OpenAI stepped in, Anthropic had been in talks with the Pentagon but ultimately walked away. The company raised concerns about the potential use of AI for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, saying it wanted stronger safeguards in place.
Damilare Odedina
Multiple reports claims that when those terms couldn’t be agreed upon, the deal fell through. But shortly after, the U.S. government announced plans to phase out Anthropic’s tools across federal agencies.
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