The announcement of OpenAI's artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense has ignited a firestorm of public discontent, resulting in a dramatic surge of uninstalls, a notable downturn in downloads, and an explosion of one-star reviews for its mobile app within the U.S. market. On February 28th, the app witnessed a staggering 295% increase in daily uninstalls compared to the day before. The day following the public disclosure of the agreement, downloads plummeted by 13% from the previous day, with an additional 5% decline on Sunday. One-star reviews skyrocketed by 775% on Saturday and climbed another 100% compared to the previous day on Sunday.

In stark contrast, OpenAI's rival, Anthropic, declared it would abstain from any collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense. This move propelled the downloads of its AI product, Claude, to new heights. Between February 27th and 28th, Claude's daily downloads in the U.S. jumped by 37% and 51%, respectively, compared to the previous day. On Saturday, it claimed the top spot in the U.S. app store and held its ground, while also ascending to the pinnacle of the iPhone free app charts in six countries. Nevertheless, certain institutions have cautioned that other factors may contribute to the surge in Claude's downloads.