Anthropic Tops App Stores After Pentagon Standoff

Anthropic's Claude topped the US Apple App Store and Google Play after CEO Dario Amodei publicly defied Pentagon demands, with Appfigures reporting Claude's US downloads rose 240% in February and about 2.1 million estimated downloads so far in 2026. The surge coincides with fallout from OpenAI's criticized Pentagon deal and Sam Altman's concession the agreement was rushed, signaling shifting user preferences and procurement risks.