Pentagon blacklists triumphant AI companyChatGPT’s top rival has exploded in popularity after Trump called its creators “leftwing nut jobs” and banned military use of the platform.Amy Jackson2 min readMarch 4, 2026 - 12:18AMChatGPT’s biggest rival has exploded in popularity after it was black-listed by the Pentagon.Thousands have reported issues with Claude AI over the last week as users flooded the platform.Many described an inability to access Claude AI and other apps owned by the San Francisco start-up Anthropic. The most recent outage occurred on Monday and lasted for two hours and 45 minutes, blocking many users from accessing the chat bot, console and code features. Since Feb 25, Claude has experienced service interruptions almost everyday which have lasted up to six hours. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, the US Defense Department used Anthropic's Claude AI to help with the attack on Venezuela and capture former President Nicolás Maduro. Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via AFP.It comes after the AI interface has skyrocketed in popularity and overtaken ChatGPT as the most downloaded Apple Store app in the US. The triumph occurred on Saturday night, just one day after Donald Trump ordered government agencies to stop using the platform. The row exploded after CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over the US government’s use of his company’s technology for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. He said the technology wasn’t good reliable enough for the weapons and that mass surveillance was a human rights issue.In a post to Truth Social, Trump said “the United States of America will never allow a radical left, woke company to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars”. “The leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the department of war, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our constitution.” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is the co-founder and CEO of Anthropic. Picture: Ludovic Marin/AFP).In response, Athrophic CEO Dario Amodei released a statement to explain that months of discussions had “reached an impasse over two exceptions”. Mr Amodei said the company “supports all lawful uses of AI for national security” but objects to “the mass domestic surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons”. Shortly after negotiations fell through on Friday, Open AI’s CEO Sam Altan announced their company had made its own deal with the federal government. According to the Wall Street Journal the US military allegedly still used Claude to inform its attack on Iran over the weekend. Recent events have seen a stream of ChatGPT users convert to Claude over concerns the platform may be allowing the two exemptions Mr Amodei alleged. Katy Perry took to X to share her new subscription to Claude Premium. Picture: Supplied.President Trump passionately posted about Claude AI on Truth Social. Picture: Mashable/Truth SocialMore Coverage‘Fairy godmother’ dresses 10,000 students for freeAmy JacksonDad’s fury after 18yo ‘king-hit three times’Amy JacksonKaty Perry even took to social media to share a screenshot of her annual Claude Pro subscription with a heart drawn around it, simply captioned “done”. There has reportedly been more than a 60% increase in free Claude users since January this year, however, last weekend marks a peak in downloads. Claude AI sits at the third most downloaded Apple Store app in Australia after launching in the country just earlier this year. More related storiesInternetBrain cells in a dish learn to play DoomResearchers at a Melbourne start-up have taught their “biological computer” made from living human brain cells to play Doom.Read moreSocial MediaMeta reveals huge scammer crackdownThe parent company of Facebook and Instagram has announced an “aggressive” legal campaign as part of their crackdown on scam advertisers across the world.Read moreTechnologyDate every phone will blare urgent alertThe Albanese government is making major changes to the national warning system amid heightened threats.Read more