Anthropic's AI app Claude has jumped to the top of the US App Store's free app download chart.

PANews reported on March 2nd that Anthropic's AI chatbot app, Claude, has recently jumped to the top of the US App Store's free app download charts, a significant rise from 42nd place two months ago. The report points out that this ranking increase is not due to new features, but rather to the escalating dispute between Anthropic and the US government over the use of its technology. US President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth criticized Anthropic, demanding that the federal government cease using its technology and prohibiting contractors doing business with the US military from engaging in commercial cooperation with Anthropic, allowing it to continue providing services to the Department of Defense for the next six months to complete the transition. Anthropic responded by refusing to use its current cutting-edge AI models for fully automated weapons and large-scale domestic surveillance, arguing that such uses would endanger the safety of military personnel and civilians and violate fundamental rights.