OpenAI's recent contract with the U.S. Department of Defense sparked backlash among users and briefly propelled Claude to the top of the App Store. Here are the details.

Claude Reached the Top of the App Store on March 1

If you have been following the tension between Anthropic and the U.S. government, you know that Anthropic was identified as a supply chain risk after refusing to accept two clauses in a multi-million dollar contract with the Department of Defense.

On the day the Pentagon's deadline for Anthropic to accept the terms expired, OpenAI stepped in and signed the contract.

Despite OpenAI claiming that it provided security measures that Anthropic wanted but could not obtain from the DoD, this triggered a swift reaction among users, leading many to remove ChatGPT.

Within a few days, removals of ChatGPT surged by 295%, while Claude reached the top of the U.S. App Store for the first time on March 1.

However, this reaction was short-lived. Earlier today, ChatGPT reclaimed the number one spot in the U.S. App Store, followed by Claude in second and Google Gemini in third.

The LLM War Heats Up

This controversy could not have come at a worse time for OpenAI, as its once-comfortable lead in the LLM market has significantly diminished over the past year.

According to a report released by Apptopia last month, ChatGPT's share among daily U.S. users fell from 69.1% in January 2025 to 45.3% in January 2026. During the same period, Google's Gemini rose from 14.7% to 25.1%.

Apptopia's report was published at a time when Alphabet announced that Gemini's monthly active user count had increased from 650 million in November to 750 million.

OpenAI confirmed that it reached 900 million weekly active users by the end of last month and surpassed 50 million subscribers.

This came at a time when Sensor Tower indicated that Gemini saw a 30% increase in MAU between August and November, while ChatGPT only grew by 5%.

On the other hand, Anthropic has spent the last few years primarily focusing on corporate and developer markets, conducting numerous studies and reports that helped position it as a responsible reference in the AI market.

Following Anthropic's Super Bowl campaign, OpenAI's decision to introduce ads in ChatGPT led to increased interest among daily users, and it managed to enter the Top 10 of the U.S. App Store on February 13.

Then came the still-resonating Pentagon controversy. The company pledged to take legal action to prevent being identified as a supply chain risk, and today a brief was filed on its behalf by over 30 workers from various sectors.

Regardless, while ChatGPT has returned to the top of the App Store, it has helped position Claude as a valid alternative alongside Google Gemini in recent days.

It remains to be seen whether Anthropic will make the right moves to maintain its momentum.

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