App slated as woke by Trump soars to top of download charts
An AI-powered app branded as 'woke' by President Donald Trump has surged to the top of the download charts in recent days.Highly capable AI assistant Claude has come under intense scrutiny after its maker, San Francisco–based Anthropic, locked horns with the Pentagon over how the military may use its technology.The Defense Department insisted the chatbot be available for 'any lawful use' and warned that Anthropic's government business could be jeopardized if the startup refused to remove additional guardrails.But the company did not back down. As a result, several cabinet-level agencies - including State, Treasury and Health and Human Services - moved this week to halt use of Anthropic's AI products. They joined the Pentagon in switching to rivals such as OpenAI under a new White House directive.Despite the political backlash, Claude appears to have benefited from the attention. It is now the most downloaded free app on iPhone in the US, displacing OpenAI's ChatGPT from the top spot.Anthropic's tool was No. 42 in early February, but it climbed to No. 1 on the US free apps chart late on Saturday, the day after the Pentagon deemed Anthropic a 'supply chain risk'. ChatGPT now sits in second place, followed by Google Gemini in third and Threads in fourth. Claude has come under intense scrutiny after its maker, San Francisco–based Anthropic, locked horns with the Pentagon over how the military may use its technology President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials took to social media to criticize Anthropic for refusing to allow unrestricted military use of its technology The Pentagon has signed $200 million ceiling agreements over the past year with major AI labs, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google. It has been pushing companies to scrap their usage policies in favor of an all-lawful-use clause.Anthropic, while continuing talks with the Defense Department, has maintained firm red lines against the use of its Claude models for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance.The company was the first among the leading AI labs to work with classified information, through a supply arrangement via cloud provider Amazon.Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei - who left OpenAI in 2020 over concerns about AI governance - has warned that the technology is advancing faster than the law. In a blog post Thursday, he cautioned that powerful AI systems could hoover up disparate data to gather intelligence on unwitting civilians, a prospect critics view as a potential legal loophole.'Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions,' Amodei wrote. But he added that AI, in narrow cases, 'can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values.' Despite the political backlash, Claude appears to have benefited from the attention. It is now the most downloaded app on iPhone in the US, displacing OpenAI's ChatGPT from the top spot Hegseth labeled Anthropic a 'supply chain risk,' a designation more commonly applied to foreign adversaries and one that could threaten the company's broader business partnershipsAmodei met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week. Afterward, the Pentagon signaled openness to compromise and sent revised contract language. Still, the two sides appeared to remain at an impasse.Trump, Hegseth and other officials took to social media to criticize Anthropic for refusing to allow unrestricted military use of its technology by a Friday deadline.Trump said the company had made a mistake in trying to strong-arm the Pentagon. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote that most agencies must immediately stop using Anthropic's AI, though he granted the Defense Department six months to phase out systems already embedded in military platforms.'The United States of America will never allow a radical left, woke company to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars!' he wrote in all caps.Hegseth also labeled Anthropic a 'supply chain risk,' a designation more commonly applied to foreign adversaries and one that could threaten the company's broader business partnerships.Following suit on Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X that his department was terminating all use of Anthropic products, including Claude.In a statement issued Friday evening, Anthropic said it would challenge what it called an unprecedented and legally unsound action 'never before publicly applied to an American company.'The company has said it sought narrow assurances from the Pentagon that Claude would not be used for mass surveillance of Americans or deployed in fully autonomous weapons systems. OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman (pictured) said the company would amend its Defense Department contract to clarify that its AI systems would not be 'intentionally used for domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals' Claude was No. 42 in early February, but it climbed to No. 1 on the US free apps chart late on Saturday (stock image)The Defense Department has said it is not interested in such uses and would only deploy the technology in legal ways, but it has also insisted on access without additional limitations.Late Friday, rival OpenAI - backed by Microsoft, Amazon and others - announced its own agreement to deploy technology within the Defense Department's classified network.In a post on X on Monday, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said the company would amend its Defense Department contract to clarify that its AI systems would not be 'intentionally used for domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals.'He added that the department understood the limitation to prohibit deliberate tracking, surveillance or monitoring of US persons, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal data.
