SP
BravenNow
ChatGPT uninstalls surged by 295% after DoD deal
| USA | technology | ✓ Verified - techcrunch.com

ChatGPT uninstalls surged by 295% after DoD deal

#ChatGPT #Claude #Department of Defense #App downloads #AI ethics #Consumer privacy #OpenAI #Anthropic

📌 Key Takeaways

  • ChatGPT app uninstalls surged 295% after DoD deal announcement
  • Claude app downloads increased by 37-51% following announcement of not partnering with DoD
  • Claude became the #1 app on U.S. App Store, surpassing ChatGPT
  • Consumer sentiment shifted dramatically, with 1-star reviews for ChatGPT increasing 775%

📖 Full Retelling

U.S. consumers responded dramatically to OpenAI's partnership with the Department of Defense (rebranded as the Department of War under the Trump administration), causing ChatGPT app uninstalls to surge 295% day-over-day on Saturday, February 28, while competitor Anthropic's Claude app downloads increased significantly after announcing they would not partner with the U.S. defense department over concerns about AI surveillance and autonomous weaponry. According to market intelligence provider Sensor Tower, this represents a massive increase compared to ChatGPT's typical uninstall rate of just 9% over the past thirty days. Meanwhile, Claude's downloads jumped 37% on Friday, Feb. 27, and 51% by Saturday, Feb. 28, as consumers appeared to favor Anthropic's position on ethical AI development. ChatGPT's download growth was also negatively impacted, with U.S. downloads dropping by 13% on Saturday and continuing to fall by 5% on Sunday, reversing the 14% growth the app had experienced on Friday before the partnership announcement. These rapid changes were reflected in app store rankings, with Claude hitting No. 1 on the U.S. App Store on Saturday and maintaining that position as of Monday, March 2, jumping over 20 ranks compared to its position roughly a week earlier.

🏷️ Themes

AI Ethics, Consumer Privacy, Tech Partnerships

📚 Related People & Topics

Ethics of artificial intelligence

The ethics of artificial intelligence covers a broad range of topics within AI that are considered to have particular ethical stakes. This includes algorithmic biases, fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy, and regulation, particularly where systems influence or automate human decision-mak...

View Profile → Wikipedia ↗

Claude

Topics referred to by the same term

Claude most commonly refers to: Claude (language model), a family of large language models developed by Anthropic Claude Lorrain (c.

View Profile → Wikipedia ↗
ChatGPT

ChatGPT

Generative AI chatbot by OpenAI

ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI. It was released in November 2022. It uses generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), such as GPT-5.2, to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts. It is credited with accelerating the AI boom, an ongoi...

View Profile → Wikipedia ↗
United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

Executive department of the US federal government

The United States Department of Defense (DoD), also referred to as the Department of War (DOW), is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the U.S. Armed Forces—the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, and, for some purposes, the Coast...

View Profile → Wikipedia ↗

Entity Intersection Graph

Connections for Ethics of artificial intelligence:

🏢 Anthropic 11 shared
🌐 Pentagon 11 shared
🏢 OpenAI 9 shared
👤 Dario Amodei 4 shared
🌐 National security 3 shared
View full profile

Mentioned Entities

Ethics of artificial intelligence

The ethics of artificial intelligence covers a broad range of topics within AI that are considered t

Claude

Topics referred to by the same term

 ChatGPT

ChatGPT

Generative AI chatbot by OpenAI

 United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

Executive department of the US federal government
Status: Partially Verified
Confidence: 78%
Source: Sensor Tower

Source Scoring

78 Overall
Decision
Normal
Low Norm High Push

Detailed Metrics

Reliability 70/100
Importance 85/100
Corroboration 75/100
Scope Clarity 80/100
Volatility Risk (Low is better) 40/100

Key Claims Verified

U.S. app uninstalls of ChatGPT’s mobile app jumped 295% day-over-day on February 28 Confirmed

This figure cited from Sensor Tower.

U.S. downloads for Anthropic’s Claude jumped 37% on February 27 and 51% on February 28 Confirmed

Both percentages are corroborated by the article.

1-star reviews for ChatGPT surged 775% on February 28 Confirmed

This value is sourced from Sensor Tower data.

Claude's daily U.S. downloads surpassed those of ChatGPT for the first time on February 28 Confirmed

This is supported by Appfigures mention.

Supporting Evidence

Caveats / Notes

  • The claims originate from Sensor Tower, raising some questions on the consistency of uninstall rates as not every source corroborates it fully.
}
Original Source
U.S. app uninstalls of ChatGPT’s mobile app jumped 295% day-over-day on Saturday, February 28, as consumers responded to the news of OpenAI’s deal with the Department of Defense , which has been rebranded under the Trump administration as the Department of War . This data, which comes from market intelligence provider Sensor Tower , represents a sizable increase compared with ChatGPT’s typical day-over-day uninstall rate of 9%, as measured over the past thirty days. Meanwhile, U.S. downloads for OpenAI competitor, Anthropic’s Claude, jumped up by 37% day-over-day on Friday, Feb. 27, and 51% as of Saturday, Feb. 28, after the company announced that it would not partner with the U.S. defense department . Anthropic said it was not able to agree on the deal terms over concerns that AI would be used to surveil Americans and be used in fully autonomous weaponry, which AI is not yet ready to do safely. A set of consumers seemingly favored Anthropic’s position on the matter, the data suggests. In addition, ChatGPT’s download growth was impacted by the news of its DoD partnership, with its U.S. downloads dropping by 13% day-over-day on Saturday, shortly after the news of its deal went public. Those downloads continued to fall on Sunday, when they were down by 5% day-over-day. (Before the partnership was announced, the app’s downloads had grown 14% day-over-day on Friday.) These rapid changes were also reflected in Claude’s App Store ranking, as the app hit No. 1 on the U.S. App Store on Saturday , where it continues to sit as of Monday, March 2. That’s a jump of over 20 ranks compared with roughly a week before (Feb. 22, 2026). Consumers are also sharing their opinions about OpenAI’s deal in the app’s ratings, where 1-star reviews for ChatGPT surged 775% on Saturday, then grew 100% day-over-day on Sunday, Sensor Tower said. Five-star reviews declined during the same period, dropping by 50%. Other third-party data providers back up Sensor Tower’s findings. Appfigures , for in...
Read full article at source

Source

techcrunch.com

More from USA

News from Other Countries

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

🇺🇦 Ukraine