Claude, the chatbot created by Anthropic, appears to have gained from the heightened interest in the firm’s contentious discussions with the Pentagon.

As initially disclosed by CNBC, as of Saturday afternoon, Claude holds the second position among free applications in the US App Store by Apple — with OpenAI’s ChatGPT in first place and Google Gemini in third.

Based on analytics from SensorTower, Claude was just on the cusp of the top 100 at the end of January and has spent the majority of February within the top 20. Its position has surged recently, moving from sixth on Wednesday to fourth on Thursday and then to second on Saturday (today).

Following Anthropic’s attempts to secure measures that would prevent the Department of Defense from utilizing its AI technology for mass domestic surveillance or entirely autonomous weaponry, President Donald Trump instructed federal agencies to cease usage of all Anthropic products, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth categorizing the company as a supply-chain threat.

In response, OpenAI announced its own deal with the Pentagon, which CEO Sam Altman asserted incorporates protections concerning domestic surveillance and autonomous weaponry.