ChatGPT Uninstalls In The U.S. Jump 295% After OpenAI’s DoD Deal

Tech decisions don’t just shape products; they shape perception. When those decisions touch politics or national security, the public reaction can be swift and visible. Over the weekend, that reaction played out clearly in the app stores after news broke about OpenAI-Pentagon partnership.

 

TL;DR

 

• OpenAI’s DoD partnership triggered a 295% spike in ChatGPT uninstalls.
• Claude climbed to No. 1 on the U.S. App Store amid download growth.
• 1-star reviews for ChatGPT rose 775% in a single day.

Recently, CEO Sam Altman shared that the company has reached an agreement with the Department of Defense to deploy OpenAI’s advanced AI systems within classified environments. Shortly after the announcement, the impact began to show in app store data.

U.S. uninstalls of ChatGPT’s mobile app jumped 295% day-over-day, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. That’s a sharp spike compared with the app’s typical 9% day-over-day uninstall rate over the past 30 days. The increase followed reports of OpenAI’s deal with the Department of Defense (DoD), which has been rebranded under the Trump administration as the Department of War.

At the same time, competitor Anthropic appeared to benefit. U.S. downloads of its Claude app rose 37% day-over-day on Friday, February 27, and climbed another 51% on Saturday after Anthropic said it would not move forward with a defense partnership.

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. The data suggests some consumers responded positively to that position.

The shift showed up quickly in download trends. ChatGPT’s U.S. downloads fell 13% day-over-day on Saturday after the news became public, then dropped another 5% on Sunday. Just a day earlier, downloads had grown 14% day-over-day.
 
Claude’s momentum was also reflected in the rankings. By Saturday, it had climbed to No. 1 on the U.S. App Store, up more than 20 spots from the week before and remained there as of Monday, March 2.

User reviews shifted as well. Sensor Tower reported that 1-star reviews for ChatGPT surged 775% on Saturday and rose another 100% on Sunday, while five-star reviews declined by 50%.

Other data firms reported similar patterns. Appfigures said Claude’s daily U.S. downloads surpassed ChatGPT’s for the first time, estimating an 88% day-over-day increase.

Similarweb noted that Claude’s U.S. downloads over the past week were roughly 20 times January levels, though it cautioned that more than one factor may be driving the spike.

For now, the numbers show how quickly user sentiment can translate into action and how closely the AI industry’s business decisions are being watched by the public.