This is a PR hit that will be hard to come back from.
After OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a new deal with the Defense Department last week, many loyal users swore they would abandon ChatGPT.
And now, new data reported by techcrunch Shows that those angry users weren’t making empty threats. According to market intelligence provider Sensor Tower, uninstallations of the Chaturbate mobile app increased 295 percent on Saturday compared to the day before. As TC Notably, this is a significant jump compared to the AI chatbot’s typical day-to-day uninstall rate of nine percent over the past 30 days.
Many of them appear to be jumping off a ship towards the Anthropix cloud. Unlike OpenAI, Anthropic had refused to make a deal with a highly unpopular administration to give the military unrestricted access to its AI technology. Specifically, Anthropic demanded that its AI not be used in autonomous weapons systems or mass surveillance of US citizens.
Even if it was only an asana performed by Anthropic – report suggests The US military used the cloud to help select targets for deadly missile attacks in Iran that killed the country’s leader Ali Khamenei and hundreds of civilians – it clearly matters to consumers. On Friday, the day after Anthropic vowed no deal with the Pentagon, cloud installs increased by 37 percent day over day, and by 51 percent on Saturday.
In addition to driving away existing users, OpenAI’s Pentagon deal has also scared off potential new users. On Saturday its download growth declined by 14 percent day-to-day, and it dropped another five percent the next day. A day before the controversy, ChatGPT’s growth had increased by 13 percent.
Outcry over OpenAI’s decision is inevitable in AI circles. one of the following Most upvoted post ever In the r/ChatGPT subreddit, created just a few days ago, users are asked to show proof of canceling their ChatGPT subscription. “You are training a war machine,” it declared. is an interpreter being posted left and right With tips for transferring your ChatGPT conversation history to the cloud. Altman tried to do damage control with an AMA on X, but was barraged by more angry users — and, worse, pointed questions to which she had no concrete answers.
The cloud rose to the top of the US App Store over the weekend, overtaking ChatGPT, which is now in second place. Data cited by techcrunch Shows that for the first time in the app’s history, US downloads for the cloud overtook downloads of ChatGPT. It remains to be seen how the backlash will affect OpenAI in the long run, or the broader AI race for that matter — but public opinion, for now, has clearly turned against the company.
More on AI: Sam Altman is realizing he made a huge mistake
