Claude overtakes ChatGPT in App Store as users switch amid Pentagon controversy

Users are ditching ChatGPT for Claude. Here's how to make the switch | TechCrunch

Many users are switching to Claude following a string of controversies surrounding ChatGPT and its parent company, OpenAI. The tipping point came after Anthropic, the company behind Claude, refused to allow the Department of Defense to use its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. In response, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's products, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to designate the company a supply-chain threat. Hours later, OpenAI announced its own agreement with the Pentagon, claiming to include safeguards, but the deal has still sparked widespread debate over privacy and the ethical use of AI. As a result, Claude has surged to the top of the free app rankings in Apple's US App Store, overtaking ChatGPT. According to Anthropic, daily signups have hit record highs, free users have jumped by more than 60% since January, and paid subscribers have more than doubled this year. For many users, the recent controversy has made Claude a compelling alternative to ChatGPT. If you're considering making the switch, this guide will walk you through transferring your data and closing your ChatGPT account. Breaking up with ChatGPT shouldn't mean losing years of digital memory. Instead of starting from scratch with a new AI assistant, you can transfer your data to Claude so it can get up to speed on your preferences right away. There are a few ways to do this. One place to start is Settings. From there, you go to Personalization and find the Memory section. Select "Manage" and review your stored information, updating anything that no longer accurately reflects your preferences. Once everything is up to date, copy the content you want to keep. Alternatively, you can export your entire chat history. Head to Settings, select Data Controls, and choose "Export Data." ChatGPT will compile your chat records into text or JSON files and email them to you. (Be aware that this may take a while if you have a lot of history.) You can also take a manual approach by copying key conversations from your history or asking ChatGPT to summarize your main preferences, frequently discussed topics, and any custom instructions you use. Once you've gathered your data, transferring it to Claude is straightforward. Open Claude, go to Settings, then Capabilities, and make sure Memory is turned on. (You'll need to sign up for the Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan to enable this feature.) Then, start a new conversation and use a prompt like, "Here's some important context I'd like you to remember. Update your memory about me with this." Then paste your information or summaries directly into the chat. For exported chat files, don't paste raw logs. Instead, prompt Claude with something like: "Review this and summarize my key preferences." We also recommend taking a moment to verify with Claude that your information has been saved accurately. You can always update your preferences as they change. To make a complete break from ChatGPT, simply canceling your subscription isn't enough to remove your data.

Anthropic's Claude rises to No. 2 in the App Store following Pentagon dispute | TechCrunch

Anthropic's chatbot Claude seems to have benefited from the attention around the company's fraught negotiations with the Pentagon. As first reported by CNBC, as of Saturday afternoon, Claude is currently ranked number two among free apps in Apple's US App Store -- the number one app is OpenAI's ChatGPT, and number three is Google Gemini. According to data from SensorTower, Claude was just outside the top 100 at the end of January, and has spent most of February somewhere in the top 20. Its ranking has climbed in the last few days, from sixth on Wednesday to fourth on Thursday to second on Saturday (today). After Anthropic attempted to negotiate for safeguards preventing the Department of Defense from using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using all Anthropic products and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he's designating the company a supply-chain threat. OpenAI subsequently announced its own agreement with the Pentagon, which CEO Sam Altman claimed includes safeguards related to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.

Ditching ChatGPT for Claude AI just got much easier - how to import your memories

Claude AI now lets you copy memories from another AI service.The goal is to help you easily switch to Claude.The process uses instructions that you can copy and paste. Many AIs offer a memory feature through which they can gather and store details about you, either through your conversations or from things you tell them directly. The purpose is to better personalize your chats based on your background, job, hobbies, and interests. But creating this type of in-depth memory can take a while. Now Anthropic's Claude AI has cooked up a quick and simple way to incorporate memories from elsewhere. With the new memory import option, you can transfer memories to Claude from another AI, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot. The objective is to help you switch to Claude without having to start over with fresh new memories and other preferences. Also: I stopped using ChatGPT for everything: These AI models beat it at research, coding, and more Claude has been picking up a lot of steam lately, as evidenced by the iOS app's top spot among free apps in Apple's App Store. At the same time, ChatGPT is being hit by a QuitGPT campaign. Clearly, Anthropic smelled an opportunity here to encourage people looking to jump ship to its own AI. Even if you're not quitting another AI but simply want to give Claude the same memories, you can still use the memory import tool. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Here's how to try this. First, set up your account with Claude if you don't have one yet. A free or paid plan will suffice, as you can perform the memory import either way. Head to Claude's memory import page and click the button to start importing to Claude. If you're already using Claude, you can also access the memory import via settings. For that, click your account name at the bottom of the left sidebar, then choose Settings and select the Privacy setting. On the Privacy page, click the Manage button next to Memory preferences, then select the Start import button. Also: 7 ways Nano Banana 2 just got better and faster - how to try Google's latest image model A small window pops up, prompting you to import memory to Claude. The necessary instructions are conveniently generated for you. Just click the Copy button to copy them. Next, sign in to the other AI service from which you want to import your memories. Paste the copied instructions at the prompt and then submit them. The instructions read as follows: I'm moving to another service and need to export my data. List every memory you have stored about me, as well as any context you've learned about me from past conversations. Output everything in a single code block so I can easily copy it. Format each entry as: [date saved, if available] - memory content. Make sure to cover all of the following -- preserve my words verbatim where possible: - Instructions I've given you about how to respond (tone, format, style, 'always do X', 'never do Y'). - Personal details: name, location, job, family, interests. - Projects, goals, and recurring topics. - Tools, languages, and frameworks I use. In the response, click the Copy button to copy the memories and preferences. If you want to apply them as is, segue back to Claude. But you may want to paste them into a text editor to review them first. That's what I did, and I found some memories I didn't want to retain or transfer. Each memory is stored as a separate text string, so you can easily delete any of them. When done, copy the revised information, then paste it into the appropriate field to import memory to Claude, or simply paste it at a new prompt. Click the Add to Memory button. After a few seconds, Claude will display a formatted list of everything it now knows about you. Close that window. Also: I tried to save $1,200 by vibe coding for free - and quickly regretted it Fire up a new chat and ask Claude what it knows about you. The AI should display all the details you added via the import. If you ever decide you no longer want Claude to remember what it's learned about you, go back to the Memory page under Settings. Hover over the "Memory from your chats" section and click the trash can icon. Here, you're also able to turn off the option for "Generate memory from chat history." Alternatively, just tell Claude at a prompt that you want it to remove all stored memories about it, and the AI should comply.

Anthropic upgrades Claude's memory to attract AI switchers

Anthropic is making it easier to switch to its Claude AI from other chatbots with an update that brings Claude's memory feature to users on the free plan, along with a new prompt and dedicated tool for importing data from other chatbots. These upgrades could allow users who have been using rivals like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Gemini to quickly copy the data their preferred AI has collected on them and bring it over to Anthropic's chatbot. That way, they don't have to "start over" teaching Claude the context and history their previous chatbot already knows. The option to import and export memories from Claude has been available since October, when Anthropic also rolled out the option for users to turn on Claude's memory. Up until now, the memory feature was only available to users on paid Claude subscriptions, but now all Claude users can turn it on by going into "settings" then "capabilities." This menu is also where users can find the new memory importing tool, which has users copy a pre-written prompt into their previous AI then copy the output from that prompt back into Claude's importing tool. Anthropic is introducing the upgraded memory importing tool as Claude is seeing a rise in popularity, driven by tools like Claude Code and Claude Cowork. Last month, Anthropic launched its new Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 models, which the company says are better at coding and completing complex tasks like working through a spreadsheet or filling out forms. Anthropic has also been experiencing a spike in attention recently after pushing back against demands from the Pentagon to loosen the guardrails on its AI models, with the company stating publicly that they drew "red lines" around mass surveillance and fully autonomous lethal weapons.

Anthropic's Claude AI Takes Apple App Store Top Spot, Dethrones ChatGPT

Claude by Anthropic is the most downloaded app on iPhone over the last few days, knocking OpenAI's ChatGPT from the top spot. The change comes after a publicized battle between Anthropic and the Department of Defense, which sparked greater public interest in Claude's AI tools. As spotted by CNBC, Anthropic's tool took the top spot on the US free apps chart late on Saturday, Feb. 28. It has remained there into the early hours of Monday, March 2, with ChatGPT in second place and Google Gemini in third. App analytics company SensorTower reports that Claude wasn't in the top 100 free apps on iPhone before the end of January, then climbed the rankings throughout February. The brand also began advertising more aggressively, including a Super Bowl spot, which may have increased interest. The app is also gaining steam on Android, where it sits in position seven. According to an Anthropic spokesperson speaking to TechCrunch, Claude broke its records throughout the last week. They said free users have increased by more than 60% since January, and that Claude has doubled its paid subscriber base over the year. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was ordering every US government agency to stop using tools from Anthropic. This came after Anthropic refused to allow the Department of Defense to use its AI models without assurances that they wouldn't be used to power fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance. In a statement on Feb. 27, Anthropic said, "We are deeply saddened by these developments. As the first frontier AI company to deploy models in the US government's classified networks, Anthropic has supported American warfighters since June 2024 and has every intention of continuing to do so." OpenAI moved ahead with an agreement for the US government to use ChatGPT's AI models within classified networks. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, "AI safety and wide distribution of benefits are the core of our mission." He continued, "Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement." Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Anthropic Tries to Win Users From ChatGPT With Memory Feature

Anthropic PBC's artificial intelligence chatbot Claude will be able to recall context across conversations for free users, as the company seeks to hang on to new consumers who have created "unprecedented demand" the past few days. The memory feature, which had been available to paid subscribers, was offered to Claude users beginning Monday, Anthropic said. The tool is one that rival OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT, already provides to those on its free plan. Anthropic is also making it easier for new subscribers to import to Claude prior histories from other AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, with a simple copy-and-paste technique. Anthropic has seen a sharp increase in attention for its consumer products since it clashed with the US Defense Department over the potential use of its technology for mass surveillance and the development of autonomous weaponry. On Friday, President Donald Trump ordered US government agencies to remove Claude from their systems, and the Pentagon declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk, threatening its business. Claude's free active users have grown more than 60% and daily signups have quadrupled since January, Anthropic said. Meanwhile, rival OpenAI announced it will deploy its own AI models within the Defense Department's classified network, prompting some users to call for a boycott of ChatGPT. On Monday, Claude experienced an hourslong service disruption amid what it called "unprecedented demand" over the last week. The issue was resolved by midmorning New York time. Anthropic PBC's artificial intelligence chatbot Claude and related consumer-facing applications went down early Monday, with the startup saying it has been grappling with "unprecedented demand" for its services over the past week. Nearly 2,000 users had reported Claude AI service disruptions at the outage's peak around 6:40 a.m. New York time, according to service-monitoring website Downdetector. Anthropic said in a statement by WhatsApp that "consumer-facing surfaces" such as claude.ai and the company's apps were offline. Businesses that have integrated Claude's AI models into their own systems were unaffected. "We appreciate everyone's patience as we work to bring things back online while experiencing unprecedented demand for Claude over the last week," Anthropic said in the statement. As of 10:50 a.m. New York time, the company said the outage issue had been resolved and all systems were operational, according to a status update website. Anthropic has seen a surge in usage of its services as it feuds with the US Defense Department over the potential use of its technology for mass surveillance and the development of autonomous weaponry. The Pentagon has declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk, an unprecedented move against an American company that threatens to have profound consequences for its business. The number of free users of Claude has increased more than 60% since January, and paid subscribers have more than doubled since October, according to Anthropic. Anthropic has stipulated that its products not be used for surveillance of Americans or to make fully autonomous weapons and said on Friday that "no amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position." The company vowed to challenge any formal notification that it's been designated a supply-chain risk in court, and its chief executive officer Dario Amodei called the move "retaliatory and punitive" in an interview with CBS News. Hours after Anthropic was declared a supply-chain risk, larger rival OpenAI agreed to deploy its own AI models within the Defense Department's classified network, saying it had reached an agreement that reflects the firm's principles that prohibit domestic mass surveillance and require "human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems." OpenAI went on to defend its new deal, saying it built a number of safeguards into its contract that will work to ensure its models are used and behave as they should as part of the deployment. But some were already online over the weekend calling on users to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions as a result of the agreement. The Claude app has meanwhile topped Apple Inc.'s App Store for several days, and Silicon Valley workers have rallied around the company's stance.

Anthropic brings memory to Claude's free plan

Anthropic is bringing another paid feature to Claude's free tier. The next time you chat with Claude, you'll have the option to have it reference your previous conversation to inform its outputs. Anthropic first made its chatbot capable of remembering past interactions last August, before giving it the ability to compartmentalize memories in the fall. Making memory a free feature is well-timed; earlier today Anthropic made it easier for users to import their past conversations with a competing chatbot to Claude. If after enabling memory you decide to turn it off, you can either pause the feature, preserving Claude's memories for use down the road, or completely delete them so they're not saved on Anthropic's servers. Claude is enjoying new-found popularity, having recently jumped to the number one spot in the App Store's free app charts. This comes while Anthropic is engaged in a high-stakes contract dispute with the US government over AI safeguards. On Friday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labeled the company a "supply chain risk" after it refused to sign a contract that would allow the Pentagon to use Anthropic models for mass surveillance against Americans and in fully autonomous weapons. Following Hegseth's announcement, Anthropic vowed to challenge the designation. As of right now, we're waiting to see how things play out, and what it might mean for Anthropic.

Anthropic's Claude hits No. 2 on Apple's top free apps list after Pentagon rejection

Anthropic's Claude artificial intelligence assistant app jumped to the No. 2 slot on Apple's chart of top U.S. free apps late on Friday, hours after the Trump administration sought to block government agencies' adoption of the startup's technology. The rise in popularity suggests that Anthropic is benefiting from its presence in news headlines, stemming from its refusal to have its models used for mass domestic surveillance or for fully autonomous weapons. "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," President Donald Trump wrote in a Friday Truth Social post. Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he asked that Anthropic be labeled as a supply-chain risk to national security, and therefore, no U.S. defense contractor would be able to draw on Anthropic tools. "It is the Department's prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement. "But given the substantial value that Anthropic's technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider." Historically, other AI chat apps have been more popular among consumers than Claude. OpenAI's ChatGPT sat at No. 1 on the App Store rankings on Saturday, while Google's Gemini was at No. 3. The Claude iOS app has gained momentum this month. On Jan. 30, it was ranked No. 131 in the U.S., and it bounced between the top 20 and the top 50 for much of February, according to data from analytics company Sensor Tower. The data shows ChatGPT has held on to the No. 1 spot for most of February. In the past year, Anthropic -- which was formed in 2021 by former OpenAI employees -- has gained momentum as a supplier of models for coding and general corporate use. OpenAI, whose ChatGPT now has over 900 million weekly users, has been responding to Anthropic's surge in business by striking partnerships with consulting firms such as Accenture and Capgemini. On Friday night, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the startup had reached an agreement with the U.S. Defense Department on the deployment of its models. Hours later, pop singer Katy Perry posted a screenshot of Anthropic's Pro subscription for consumers, with a heart superimposed over it.

Claude is the top free app on iPhone right now, and the Pentagon drama is basically why

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Ripple effect: Anthropic has been all over the news lately for refusing to let the US military use its technology for autonomous weapons and surveillance. That decision may have cost the company a major deal and, potentially, hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of those losses may now be offset, however, as Claude - the company's AI chatbot - has climbed to number one on Apple's App Store. In the process, it has even dethroned ChatGPT. That happened late on Saturday, February 28, and as of this writing, Claude is still holding the top spot. ChatGPT has slipped to second place, with Google's Gemini trailing in third. It's a remarkable rise for an app that wasn't even in the top 100 back in January. As for what's driving the surge, it turns out that a very public fight with the Pentagon can do wonders for download numbers. As noted above, Anthropic walked away from a deal with the Department of Defense after failing to secure assurances that its models would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance. The DoD was obviously not thrilled about that. In fact, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went as far as pushing to label Anthropic a "supply-chain risk" to national security. Even Sam Altman weighed in during an AMA on X, calling the designation "a very bad decision" and "an extremely scary precedent" - a notable comment to make about a direct rival. Following Hegseth's move, President Trump escalated the situation by ordering federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's tools altogether. He also took to Truth Social to describe the company as "leftwing nut jobs" who made a "disastrous mistake." Yet instead of scaring users away, the controversy appears to have had the opposite effect. Downloads of Claude surged, and a "cancel ChatGPT" trend gained traction across Reddit and other social platforms. OpenAI had stepped in to replace Anthropic on the defense contract, and many ChatGPT users weren't happy about that. Anthropic has backed the uptick with its own data, saying free signups have jumped more than 60% since January. Meanwhile, paid subscribers have doubled over the past year. The company also ran a Super Bowl ad, mocking OpenAI for introducing ads to ChatGPT. That probably didn't hurt either. That said, despite Trump's directive, Claude is reportedly still in use at several government agencies, including US Central Command. A complete transition to GPT, if it happens at all, could take time.

Anthropic Improves Feature to Switch From Competitors as Users Call for ChatGPT Boycott

The updated feature makes importing preferences and context from other LLMs easier as Claude climbs the app charts. Anthropic just updated a tool that lets users import preferences and memory from rival chatbots, as a dispute with the U.S. military helped push Claude to the top of the app charts. The updated tool makes it easier than ever for chatbot users to switch to Claude without having to start from scratch. “Bring your preferences and context from other AI providers to Claude,†the company says on its website. “With one copy-paste, Claude updates its memory and picks up right where you left off.†The update arrived the same weekend Claude overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the top free app on Apple’s App Store. The surge in downloads followed controversy surrounding the company’s refusal to agree to terms from the U.S. Department of War that would have allowed Claude to be used by the military for “all lawful uses.†Negotiations got tense after Anthropic sought restrictions on the use of its tech for domestic surveillance and autonomous weapon systems. To use the new tool, users on a paid plan can copy a prompt provided by Anthropic that asks another chatbot to export its data in a code block. After receiving that code, users can go to Claude’s Settings page, open the Capabilities menu, navigate to the Memory section, and select "Start import." From there, they can paste the exported code block and choose “Add to memory†to submit it. Google is reportedly testing a similar feature, and ChatGPT currently offers a method for transferring memory between different ChatGPT accounts. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that after the two parties failed to reach an agreement on Friday, he is directing the department to designate Anthropic as a supply-chain risk. The move would bar contractors, suppliers, or any companies seeking to do business with the U.S. military from maintaining commercial ties with Anthropic. “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,†wrote Trump in a post on Friday on Truth Social. For its part, Anthropic said, in a statement on Friday, that it insisted on the exceptions because it believes “today’s frontier AI models are reliable enough to be used in fully autonomous weapons†and that mass domestic surveillance violates “fundamental rights.†Hegseth said the department will begin transitioning away from Anthropic’s services over the next six months. Until recently, Anthropic was the only AI company cleared for use in the military's classified systems. Its technology was reportedly used in some capacity during recent U.S. strikes in Iran. Hours after Anthropic was blacklisted, OpenAI announced it had reached an agreement with the Defense Department to deploy its technology in classified systems. Bewilderingly, OpenAI claims that in its agreement with the Defense Department, it is still able to protect the same redlines Anthropic had pushed for, including prohibitions on using its technology for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. Elon Musk’s xAI has also reportedly reached an agreement for its technology to be used in military classified systems. Additionally, Grok, OpenAI, and Google’s AI systems are all available through the Defense Department’s AI platform, GenAI.mil, for unclassified uses. Still, calls to boycott ChatGPT began circulating online this weekend. A website called “QuitGPT†claims that over 1.5 million people have joined the campaign. Among the reasons cited for the boycott is OpenAI President Greg Brockman’s reported $25 million donation to a pro-Trump super PAC last year. Even pop star Katy Perry has taken to social media to show its support of Anthropic. In a post on X, Perry wrote “done†alongside a screenshot of the Claude Pro sign-up page with a heart over it. By Monday morning, Claude experienced an outage that the company attributed to “unprecedented demand," Bloomberg reported. For a while, Claude appeared positioned to be the leader in enterprise and developer use of AI, while competing chatbots dominated the consumer market. That now seems to be shifting. It’s unclear which path will prove more lucrative, but Anthropic appears to be riding this wave in consumer interest by promoting its data importation feature.

Anthropic's Claude can now absorb your past conversations with other AI chatbots

Anthropic has made switching to its Claude AI chatbot easier than ever. The company announced a new memory import tool that can extract all of a competing AI chatbot's memories and context of you into a text prompt that can be fed into Claude. With Anthropic's prompt, you can then copy and paste the output into Claude's memories, and the AI chatbot will pick up where you left off with another AI chatbot, whether it's ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot. Anthropic said it'll take about 24 hours for Claude to assimilate the new context, but you'll be able to see the change by clicking on the "See what Claude learned about you" button. Claude users can even tweak what the AI chatbot remembers in the "Manage memory" section in the app's settings. Anthropic pointed out that Claude is meant to focus on "work-related topics to enhance its effectiveness as a collaborator," adding that it might not remember personal details that are unrelated to work. Anthropic's timing doesn't seem to be just a coincidence. Claude recently jumped to the number one spot in the App Store's free apps charts, dethroning ChatGPT in the process. The rise in popularity likely stems from its recent dispute with the Department of Defense, where Anthropic refused to budge on AI guardrails related to mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. On the other hand, OpenAI will be taking Anthropic's vacated role with the Department of Defense, leading to a trend of users boycotting ChatGPT and canceling their subscriptions.

Claude AI now remembers chats and interactions for free users

Users maintain full control over their stored memories, with options to pause, save, or delete conversation data from Anthropic's servers at any time. Anthropic is now making the memory feature in its AI chatbot Claude available to free users as well, Engadget reports. The feature allows Claude to remember and refer to previous conversations to provide more relevant and personalized responses. Claude memory was originally launched for paying users in August 2025 and was later updated with the ability to split and organize saved memories. The feature is optional. Users can pause it and keep saved data for later, or delete memories altogether from Anthropic's servers. This rollout to free users comes at the same time that Anthropic has made it easier to migrate chat histories from competing AI services. Claude is exploding in popularity after Anthropic stood up to the US government and refused to compromise on two key principles: not allowing its AI to be used for "mass domestic surveillance" and "fully autonomous weapons."

Free Claude users can now use memory and import context from rivals - 9to5Mac

Anthropic is taking advantage of Claude's recent increase in mindshare with a new memory import tool to encourage switching from competing AI chatbot systems. Claude's memory feature is also available for free tier users for the first time after launching last summer. "Memory is now available on the free plan," Anthropic announced today. "We've also made it easier to import saved memories into Claude. You can export them whenever you want." The memory import tool is pretty basic. In fact, it's just a prompt that you copy and paste into another AI chatbot system. Anthropic then instructs you to copy and paste the results from the other chatbot into Claude's memory settings. This is the prompt Anthropic provides users: This prompt, of course, could be used to switch in any direction between AI chatbot systems with memory. Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini each support custom instructions and memory features.

Anthropic Adds Free Memory Feature and Import Tool to Lure ChatGPT Users to Claude

Anthropic is aiming to lure customers from ChatGPT and Gemini with a new memory import tool that's available to free users as of today. Conversations and memories from other AI providers can be imported into Claude, so new users will not need to start from scratch. Users can import preferences and context from an AI service like ChatGPT using a prompt that Anthropic prepared for other chatbots. The prompt instructs the AI to prepare a list of memories and context from past conversations, with formatting that's easily digestible by Claude. I'm moving to another service and need to export my data. List every memory you have stored about me, as well as any context you've learned about me from past conversations. Output everything in a single code block so I can easily copy it. Claude has an input box for the exported data, and the information is added to Claude's memory. Claude has supported memory for paid plans since October 2025, but there was no option for free users to take advantage of the feature. With a memory feature now available for switching, users will not need to sign up for a paid plan to move their AI instructions and preferences to Claude. Anthropic says that memory will remain an option on the free plan. Enabling memory and then importing information into Claude can be done through the Memory section of Claude's settings. Last month, Anthropic took advantage of ChatGPT's decision to start displaying ads for free users, promising to keep Claude ad-free. Anthropic then added new features for free users, including options for compaction, creating files, using connectors, and accessing skills. Along with memory, those options were previously limited to paid subscribers. As of now, Claude is the top free iOS app in the App Store, a spot normally held by ChatGPT. Anthropic has been in the news over the last week for its inability to reach an agreement with the U.S. government over AI use, and the subsequent supply chain risk designation it received.

Claude hits No. 1 on the App Store as users flee ChatGPT over OpenAI's 'Department of War' deal

Claude just overtook ChatGPT on the App Store -- here's what's driving the shift TL;DR: Anthropic's Claude has climbed to the No. 1 spot in Apple's U.S. App Store, overtaking ChatGPT amid growing scrutiny of AI ethics, government partnerships and data safeguards. The shift suggests users are paying closer attention not just to features, but to trust. Anthropic's Claude chatbot has surged to the top of Apple's U.S. App Store rankings, pushing ChatGPT out of the No. 1 position. While app rankings can change quickly, this spike arrives at a moment of heightened public debate over how AI companies partner with governments and deploy their technology. Why Claude is gaining momentum Recent reporting has linked the surge in downloads to growing public scrutiny of AI defense partnerships and safety policies. Online discussion intensified after OpenAI confirmed that its technology would be made available for use within U.S. Department of Defense environments, prompting debate about the role of AI in national security and public infrastructure. At the same time, Anthropic has emphasized safety guardrails and cautious deployment policies, which some users view as a differentiator. The result: increased downloads, social media calls to try alternatives and renewed attention on AI ethics. What OpenAI's Department of Defense agreement says OpenAI recently outlined its agreement to provide AI tools for secure government use, including within defense agencies. According to the company, the agreement includes safeguards such as: * prohibiting use for mass domestic surveillance * restricting autonomous weapon targeting * preventing fully automated high-stakes decision-making OpenAI has also said data processed in classified environments remains isolated and is not used to train public models. The company argues that working with democratic governments helps shape responsible AI deployment and safety standards. Critics, however, have raised concerns about oversight, legal frameworks and the broader implications of AI in military contexts. According to the QuitGPT site, over 1.5 million users have already committed to switching. Not the first shake-up in the AI app race ChatGPT has lost the top spot before as competitors launched viral features, lower pricing or new capabilities. The App Store leaderboard increasingly reflects shifting user priorities in a fast-moving AI market. This time, however, feels different as Claude's rise highlights a broader shift in how people choose AI tools. Users are increasingly weighing: * Trust & ethics: How companies deploy AI and partner with institutions. * Safety guardrails: What restrictions are built into AI systems? * Privacy & data practices: How information is stored, processed and protected. * Performance & usability: Speed, accuracy and usefulness still matter. Final thoughts ChatGPT remains one of the most widely used AI tools worldwide, with a massive ecosystem advantage. But Claude's rapid rise underscores a new reality: user loyalty can shift quickly when trust, transparency and values enter the conversation. As AI becomes embedded in workplaces, infrastructure and government systems, users are paying closer attention to how these tools are used -- and choosing platforms that align with their expectations. In the next phase of the AI race, performance alone may not be the only thing users demand. Trust and security play an equally important role. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.

Claude is the Number 2 Free App in Apple’s App Store Now

In your lifetime, you have no doubt witnessed backlashes, cancellations, and the Streisand Effect. You have seen social media sites become bad, and alternatives crop up and become bad themselves. You have seen Chick Fil-A protested for too much homophobia, and later for not enough homophobia. You've seen members of the Dixie Chicks apologize to George W. Bush, and then un-apologize and rebrand, and then rebrand again. You've seen George H.W. Bush say "we need more families like The Waltons than The Simpsons" in a campaign speech only to lose, and see The Simpsons become so successful it eventually became as anodyne as The Waltons. And now they're cancelling Claude. Is it going to make Claude more powerful? The earliest of early indicators suggest it may. You probably know by now the President has sought to use the tools available to him to annihilate the AI company Anthropic. And you may know that he has said in a Truth Social post, “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.†Well, CNBC noticed Friday evening that the Claude app has risen to number 2 on Apple’s top U.S. free apps chart â€"almost immediately after the Trump administration gave the company a massive amount of free marketing by denouncing it, helped broker a deal between Anthropic's main rival, OpenAI, and the Pentagon, and then started a major new war. I don't know if the upswing in Claude usage is meant to be a form of protest, but if you are trying out Claude as a little protest against the war, may I suggest asking Claude the following question: "Hey Claude, is changing which AI chatbot I use going to help end a war?" I hope that helps.

Claude just got a vital free upgrade to help it take on ChatGPT -- it'll now remember conversations for all users. Here's why that matters

Making conversational memory available for everyone helps Claude become more practical to use * Claude's free users now get full conversational memory * The AI will remember details across chats regardless of subscription tier * The upgrade makes long-term planning and everyday tasks smoother Anthropic is making every conversation with Claude memorable to the AI chatbot, enabling the AI's memory feature for free users after months during which it was only available to those paying for a subscription to Claude's premium tiers. Memory is only the latest feature Anthropic has made freely available, after recently expanding access to the chatbot's file creation, Connectors, and customizable Skills. Memory seems like a simple feature on the surface, but it offers continuity in a way that changes the feel of using an AI assistant. Instead of repeating your preferences, your ongoing projects, or the little details you've already explained six times, Claude can now hold onto them and bring them back when needed. Memory lets Claude build on what you say over time, making its responses feel more tailored and more grounded in who you are as a person rather than in the moment you type a prompt. Considering how ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI chatbots are opening up new kinds of subscriptions and monetization strategies, like ChatGPT ads. Claude's continued expansion of its free plan features stands out. And it seems to be working. Claude recently surged to the top of the U.S. App Store's free charts, a spot usually dominated by OpenAI and Google. Memory, offered without a subscription, reinforces the appeal of Claude on top of its other abilities. It opens the door for more people to experience what the premium version already has. Memory power Although the memory upgrade is the headliner, Anthropic has also been rolling out complementary features designed to smooth the experience for anyone moving to Claude from other chatbots. This includes a tool that imports conversation history from competing assistants. But the memory option is far from trivial. People may underestimate how important persistence is, but without memory, you're forced to repeat yourself or deal with more generic answers. If you're not a fan of it, though, you can pause the memory feature, preserving what Claude has already learned but keeping it dormant until you choose otherwise. You can also delete memories entirely. Memory and personalization are no longer deluxe comforts for most AI chatbots. ChatGPT and Gemini highlight them as key selling points. Claude matching these capabilities on the free tier is a way of signaling that it wants to be seen as a peer, not an alternative that trades features for safety. Claude's new memory feature is a practical upgrade at heart, but Anthropic clearly wants people to see it as the company investing in deepening the relationship between users and Claude instead of relying on novelty alone. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

Anthropic's AI model Claude gets popularity boost after US military feud

Claude climbs to top of app store charts in US and UK after being blacklisted by the Pentagon over ethics concerns The AI model Claude has surged in popularity after being blacklisted by the Pentagon last week over ethics concerns. Claude climbed to the number one spot on Apple's chart of top free apps on Saturday in the US - dethroning OpenAI's ChatGPT, just one day after the Pentagon tapped OpenAI to supply AI to classified military networks. The bot's app climbed the iPhone app charts in the UK but did not beat out ChatGPT. Claude also raced up the Android charts in the US and UK, though ChatGPT reigned supreme, according to data from Sensor Tower. Claude and other apps by the startup Anthropic suffered outages early Monday amid what the company described as "unprecedented demand for Claude" over the last week. More than 1,400 users reported disruptions just after 6am ET, according to Downdetector, an online platform that monitors service outages. By 11am ET, Anthropic stated that the incident was resolved. Even as the company feuded with the Pentagon, business boomed. "Every single day last week was an all time record for Claude sign-ups," a statement from the company reads. Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, called Anthropic a supply-chain risk last week, after CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down on red lines around the use of his company's technology for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Amodei has said current AI models are not reliable enough to be used in these weapons and that mass surveillance violates constitutional rights. He has also disputed the federal government's ability to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk, and so far advised customers and Pentagon contractors that their use is unaffected. The federal government has accused Anthropic of overstepping, with Donald Trump saying on his Truth Social platform: "The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the [Pentagon], and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution." The Trump administration then tapped OpenAI's Chat GPT for the job. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, announced Friday that his company struck a deal with the federal government just hours after negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic fell through. He said the military would not use ChatGPT for autonomous killing systems or mass surveillance. But those claims have been met with skepticism by many AI experts, lawyers, tech workers and users, who asked why the US government would abandon its partnership with Anthropic, only to strike a deal with OpenAI that has the same safeguards it criticized. Some ChatGPT users, including pop singer Katy Perry, announced their switch to Anthropic on social media, and urged others to cancel their subscriptions, too. Anthropic already had a good start to the year, with free active users increasing by more than 60% and daily signups quadrupling, the company said. Claude's paid subscribers also more than doubled. Anthropic has made it easy for new users to make the switch to Claude through its memory feature, which is available on all paid plans. "With one copy-paste, Claude updates its memory and picks up right where you left off," the company notes on its website. "Claude can import what matters, so your first conversation feels like your hundredth." A step-by-step guide provides a prompt for the AI provider if a user wishes to leave in favor of Claude.

Anthropic's Claude overtakes ChatGPT as #1 in App Store

In the battle for AI supremacy, Anthropic's Claude has just managed to dethrone OpenAI's ChatGPT in Apple's App Store, claiming the #1 spot as the most-downloaded free app in the United States, leaving ChatGPT in second and Google's Gemini a distant fourth. This sudden surge in the rankings is almost certainly due to public backlash at a recent announcement by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, released on X, that they would work with the Department of Defense (unofficially titled the Department of War) to deploy artificial intelligence through its classified networks. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This announcement comes on the heels of a public stand by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei against the unrestricted use of AI by governments, in which he specifically highlighted the dangers of both "mass domestic surveillance" and "fully autonomous weapons" powered by AI. While much of the general public, nervous about the speed and scope of AI's sudden prominence, viewed this as a principled stand, President Donald Trump saw it as a rebuke of government policy: "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," he wrote in a Truth Social post. The Trump administration, acting through Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has since sought to designate Anthropic as a "supply-chain risk to national security," an unprecedented label for an American company and a move that would make it impossible for them to secure government contracts in the future. In a cross-company show of support for Anthropic's stance, more than 700 employees of both Google and OpenAI have signed an open letter, "We Will Not Be Divided," that concludes forcefully: "We hope our leaders will put aside their differences and stand together to continue to refuse the Department of War's current demands for permission to use our models for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight." More recently, and as proof that the average person is sensitive to these ethical issues, the general public is weighing in as well, shifting their loyalty from ChatGPT to Claude. To put this shift into perspective, an Anthropic spokesperson told Mashable over email that free users up 60%+ since January, daily signups tripled since November (breaking the all-time record every day this week), and paid subscribers more than doubled this year." Per the spokesperson, Anthropic ranked #42 before Super Bowl LX and has since ranked in the top 10 in the US app charts. With the AI revolution still in full swing, the battle for its soul is still being fought, and this latest flare-up proves that the average person still has leverage.

Anthropic got blacklisted by the Pentagon. Then Claude hit No. 1 in the app store.

Why it matters: The long-term business impact for Anthropic remains unclear. But in the short term, the clash has fueled interest in Claude, as some social media users call for dumping ChatGPT over OpenAI's deal with the Pentagon. Catch up quick: Anthropic lost its Pentagon contract Friday over a dispute about military use of Claude, shortly after President Trump blasted it as a "Radical Left AI company." * Anthropic drew red lines against using its AI for mass surveillance and autonomous lethal weapons. * Hours later, OpenAI -- maker of ChatGPT -- announced its own Pentagon deal after the Defense Department agreed to safety red lines similar to Anthropic's. * Anthropic vowed to "challenge any supply chain risk designation in court," and said no "intimidation or punishment from the Department of War" would force it to cave. Zoom in: The Instagram account "quitGPT" gained about 10,000 followers following the news, according to its operator. * A Reddit post about OpenAI winning the Pentagon contract racked up 30,000 upvotes under a post saying "Cancel and Delete ChatGPT!!!" * A viral video appeared to show chalk art outside Anthropic's offices in San Francisco reading "you give us courage." * People on social media have pointed to OpenAI president Greg Brockman's previous $25 million donation to a pro-Trump super PAC as part of their rationale for moving away from ChatGPT By the numbers: Data from OpenRouter measuring model usage over the last month shows twelve different models now outpace OpenAI. * Claude's Sonnet 4.5 ranked fifth for February, according to the data, and the top model was from China-based MiniMax. Reality check: ChatGPT is still right behind Claude on the app store charts and has a first-mover advantage on AI. What's next: While the winners and losers of the AI race are constantly shipping, Claude has been on fire, particularly with enterprises after several product launches made for swift business adoption.

Claude makes its AI memory feature free for all users in battle against ChatGPT

Free users finally get context-aware conversations, plus a way to bring their old AI chats with them. Claude is having a resurgence of sorts in 2026. The Claude app on iOS has just taken the number one spot in the United States and is now a top-10 productivity app on iOS in over 100 countries. To capitalize on this momentum and make its services even more enticing to free users, Claude has now added its AI memory feature, which was previously restricted to paid plans, to its free tier. Users can now reference their past chats to get more context-aware answers. How Claude's memory improves your chat experience If you have used any AI chat service before, you know that one of the biggest pain points is that you have to give your AI the same instructions every time you start a new project. Claude's memory feature resolves this issue. Recommended Videos Instead of starting from zero each time, Claude can search through your past chats, pull out the exact context you discussed before, and continue the thread seamlessly. Your conversations become continuous instead of fragmented, resulting in smarter context-aware responses and a much smoother experience. Another benefit of this feature is that you can prompt Claude to search your previous conversations and retrieve any information. I love that you can restrict memory to certain projects, thus keeping your personal chats separate from work chats. This comes on top of the features Claude has already added to its free tier, including app connectors, file creation, skills for repeatable workflows, longer conversations, image search, and more. This sounds amazing, but my memory lives somewhere else One concern new Claude users might have is that their chats are saved on other AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT. Anthropic, the parent company of Claude, has a solution for that. The company has added a new memory import tool. It lets you import your chat history from other chatbots into Claude's memory. Your other AI provider doesn't even need an export feature. Claude has provided a prompt that you can enter in your existing chatbot. The prompt has been written in a way that it will get all your chat history in one chat. You can then copy the response and import it into Claude's memory, which, according to the company, takes up to 24 hours to assimilate. You can use this method to export your chat memory from all popular AI providers. This includes ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. What it means for Claude users The addition of the memory feature to Claude's free tier is excellent news for both new and existing users alike. You get to have a more context-aware conversation with Claude, reference old data, and even receive a report of your past conversations. Add to that, you can finally import your chat history from other chatbots. This is one of the best times to test run Claude.

Anthropic's Claude overtakes ChatGPT in App Store as users boycott over OpenAI's $200 million Pentagon contract | Fortune

OpenAI replaced Anthropic on a Pentagon deal worth up to $200 million, but in doing so, it may have handed its biggest rival a victory by pushing them to the top of the App Store. Anthropic's Claude climbed to the No. 1 spot on Apple's App Store over the weekend, dethroning ChatGPT just days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced his company had supplanted Anthropic by striking a nine-figure deal with the U.S. Department of War. Before the release of Anthropic's Super Bowl ads -- which took a dig at OpenAI's move to include ads in ChatGPT -- Anthropic was ranked 42nd on Apple's App Store. Since then it has remained in the top 10 most downloaded apps, but OpenAI's Pentagon contract may have helped push it into the top spot over the weekend. Claude stood at No. 5, compared to No. 2 for ChatGPT, on the Google Play Store as of Monday. ChatGPT users protested OpenAI's Pentagon contract online in recent days by spreading the message to "Cancel ChatGPT" across Reddit and X. Some users posted guides for deleting ChatGPT accounts and migrating to Claude. Others accused OpenAI of opportunism, pointing out Altman had previously supported Anthropic's stand, before signing the deal Anthropic rejected. As Claude seized the top spot, ChatGPT fell to second and Google's Gemini lagged behind in fourth place on the App Store. Since the start of the year, free active users on Claude have increased by over 60% and daily signups have quadrupled. Claude's rise comes after the public fallout between Anthropic and the Pentagon over how AI technology can be used by the military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that if the company refused to allow its AI models to be deployed for "all lawful purposes," including potential applications in surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, the Pentagon would terminate its contract and label Anthropic a national security risk. Amodei rejected the terms outright. "Threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request," Amodei said in a statement. Following Amodei's refusal, President Donald Trump hit back in a post on TruthSocial, calling it a "Radical Left AI company" and ordered every federal agency to phase out Anthropic's technology within six months. Hegseth later said in a post on X that he was designating the company a "supply chain risk to National Security," a label usually meant for firms with ties to foreign adversaries. Hours later, and despite his intial alignment with Anthropic's Amodei, Altman announced OpenAI had reached its own agreement with the Pentagon to deploy its models on its classified network. Altman argued in a post on X that OpenAI's deal includes the same core safety guardrails Anthropic had demanded, including a prohibition on using the tech for domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for use of force, including autonomous weapons. As part of the agreement, OpenAI placed limitations barring the use of its AI for purposes that go against its redlines, Altman said. "The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement," Altman wrote in the post. OpenAI did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment. Over the weekend, Altman also defended the AI company's decision to strike a deal with the Pentagon, writing that it will build a system that the Department of War can use in "laws and directives around autonomous weapons and surveillance" "But we get to decide what system to build, and the DoW understands that there are lot of risks we deeply understand. We can, and will, build a lot of protections into that system, including for ensuring that the red lines are not crossed," he wrote. Amodei, for his part, called the government's designation "retaliatory and punitive" in an interview with CBS News. He added that Anthropic is still open to working with the military within its previously stated limits, but that it drew its red lines because "we believe that crossing those lines is contrary to American values, and we wanted to stand up for American values."

Claude jumps to top of Apple's App Store amid OpenAI backlash

For a technology that sells itself as frictionless, switching chatbots has suddenly become a full-contact sport. Over the weekend, "Cancel ChatGPT" and "DeleteGPT" and "QuitGPT" posts started ricocheting around social media -- and by Monday, Anthropic's Claude had climbed to No. 1 on Apple $AAPL's U.S. App Store free-download chart. But then on Monday morning, Claude briefly went down after what the company described as an "unprecedented" surge in demand -- the kind of phrasing that doubles as both apology and a flex. The app that won the internet briefly broke the internet. Downdetector lit up. Users refreshed. And somewhere in San Francisco, someone muttered the most Silicon Valley sentence imaginable: "We're trending; add servers." Service was restored within hours, but not before the irony crystallized. The app benefiting from a mass migration had to absorb the mass. The spark for all the chaos and upheaval was Washington. Anthropic, after months of negotiations with the Pentagon, says it hit an impasse because it wanted two explicit carve-outs from any "lawful use" deal: no "mass domestic surveillance of Americans" and "fully autonomous weapons." On weapons, Anthropic says today's frontier models "are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons" -- and says that mass domestic surveillance would violate "fundamental rights." It was willing to walk away from "several hundred million dollars in revenue" rather than sign. Hours after Anthropic was sidelined, OpenAI went the other direction. It agreed to deploy advanced AI systems in classified environments. OpenAI insists it shares Anthropic's two taboos and adds a third: "high-stakes automated decisions." The company claims it built a sturdier enforcement machine than "usage policies" -- a "cloud-only deployment" that keeps OpenAI's safety stack running, with "cleared OpenAI personnel in the loop." But the Pentagon didn't really budge; OpenAI's deal is much softer than what Anthropic pushed for -- with the tell being that "any lawful use" phrase. Instead of a slow, lawyerly comms rollout, CEO Sam Altman made an announcement on X $TWTR and then did an AMA, admitting the deal was "rushed" and conceding that "the optics don't look good." The result was a weekend referendum conducted in taps and swipes; the boycott's organizers claim more than 1.5 million people have "taken action" against OpenAI. In some corners, the energy centered on defense contracts and where AI companies should draw lines. In others, it was more personal: a backlash aimed squarely at OpenAI and its leadership, amplified in the shorthand and sarcasm native to social media. And plenty of people have performed their outrage the modern way: by downloading a competing app. Anthropic has reported record signups, with free active users up more than 60% since the start of the year and paid subscriptions more than doubling. But there's scale, and then there's scale. OpenAI says ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly active users. A boycott, even a loud one, can't entirely erase that advantage. Still, OpenAI gets heat for a defense deal; Anthropic gets praise and benefits from the switch-over; then Claude's infrastructure has to absorb a crowd whose hobby is asking for more tokens than physics can possibly provide. Morality plays can drive distribution, but distribution still has to clear the uptime bar.

Anthropic's Claude grabs top spot in App Store after Trump's ban

Anthropic may have lost out on doing business with the US government, but it's gained enough popularity to earn the number one spot on the App Store's Top Free Apps leaderboard. At the top, Claude beat out both ChatGPT and Google Gemini, which respectively sit at the second and third spots on Apple's free apps charts. The sudden surge in user downloads isn't random. It follows news that President Trump has barred any federal agency from using Anthropic's Claude or other AI tools after the AI company refused to concede on certain guardrails. After declining to have its AI models be used for mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, Anthropic was also threatened with a "supply-chain risk" label by the Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The very public spat led to a wave of user support that finally allowed Claude to dethrone OpenAI's ChatGPT on the App Store as the most downloaded free app. While OpenAI has stepped into Anthropic's shoes after agreeing to a deal with the Department of Defense, the CEO still offered up some thoughts about the debacle during an AMA on X. Even though Claude is a competing model, Sam Altman said that Anthropic's supply-chain risk designation was "a very bad decision" that he's hoping gets reversed. On top of that, OpenAI's CEO called Anthropic's blacklisting "an extremely scary precedent," but he's "still hopeful for a much better resolution."

Claude can now import chat histories from ChatGPT (and other AIs)

The imported memories take approximately 24 hours for Claude to absorb, and users can view and adjust these saved conversations afterward. Anthropic has released a new Import Memory tool that lets you "switch to Claude without starting over." In short, this new tool makes it extremely easy to import chat histories from other AI chatbots (including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot) into Claude, reports Engadget. The Import Memory tool creates a text prompt that you'll copy into Claude. Afterwards, the chatbot can then continue conversations from other AI platforms and resume from where you left off. It'll take about 24 hours for Claude to absorb the memories. You can also view and adjust what's saved in memory after importing. The new tool comes at a critically important time, as Claude explodes in popularity following its unwillingness to compromise on two key issues relating to how AI is used by the government: "mass domestic surveillance" and "fully autonomous weapons." Thousands of users worldwide are now leaving platforms like ChatGPT in favor of Claude, and this import tool will make that switch easier.

Claude hits #1 on the App Store as users rally behind Anthropic's government standoff - 9to5Mac

AI chatbots currently take up the top three spots on the US App Store's Top Downloaded charts. For Anthropic's Claude, which takes the first-place position right now, that's a jump from 42nd place just two months ago. OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini are currently the second and third top downloaded apps, respectively. For Anthropic, the newly minted first place position isn't because of some new feature or capability. Instead, the week-long saga between Anthropic and the US government seems to have thrust Claude to the top of the App Store. Anthropic was the target of ire by both President Trump and Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday. "In conjunction with the President's directive for the Federal Government to cease all use of Anthropic's technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," Hegseth wrote on X. "Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic," Hegseth continued. "Anthropic will continue to provide the Department of War its services for a period of no more than six months to allow for a seamless transition to a better and more patriotic service." Anthropic responded by pointing to two reasons it disagrees with the US military's intended use of its technology: "We held to our exceptions for two reasons. First, we do not believe that today's frontier AI models are reliable enough to be used in fully autonomous weapons. Allowing current models to be used in this way would endanger America's warfighters and civilians. Second, we believe that mass domestic surveillance of Americans constitutes a violation of fundamental rights." While the long-term consequences of this disagreement are unclear, Anthropic appears to be winning in mindshare, at least for now, in terms of app downloads among iPhone users.

You Can Now Import Your ChatGPT Data to Claude for Free

Users can also import memories from other chatbots into Claude Anthropic is taking steps to make it easier to switch to Claude. While the AI chatbot app is popular among developers and vibecoders, it's also been infamous for keeping its more advanced features behind a paywall (and for rate-limiting free users). But now, Claude is finally catching up to ChatGPT and bringing its memory feature to free users. The move follows Claude overtaking ChatGPT in the App Store to become the #1 most downloaded free app in the U.S., so the timing makes sense. As for what could have caused the sudden interest in the app, OpenAI recently announced that it will be working with the U.S. Department of Defense (unofficially titled the Department of War), a day after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei expressed concern about unrestricted AI use by governments. Alongside the new free memory feature, Claude is also introducing a free import tool to help you bring your AI context along with you when moving from other chatbots. Technically, it's more of a guided prompt to feed into other bots, but the idea is that it can help new users avoid blank-slate syndrome. Within 24 hours of using the tool, Claude will theoretically know all the personal details you've previously shared with the chatbots you're importing from, including special instructions, your career, and your ongoing projects, making it easier to converse with Claude. While Claude's memory feature is available for free for all users, it's not enabled by default. Let's fix that. Open the Claude website or the app, click the Profile icon, and go to Settings. Here, in the Capabilities section, you'll see a new Memory section up top. Enable the Generate memory from chat history feature. Now, Claude will automatically start remembering key details about your life as you share them. According to Anthropic, Claude "will automatically summarize your conversations and create a synthesis of key insights across your chat history (not including chats in projects). This synthesis is updated every 24 hours and provides context for every new standalone conversation." Say you're a dentist and you ask Claude for dental implants research; it will know that you're learning about implants the next time you ask a related question. Of course, this does mean that Claude will start remembering your personal data, too, or at least your personal context. Claude does offer a couple of ways to get around this. If you try to disable memory (from the same menu where you enabled it), you'll see two other options. For a less severe workaround, you can use the Pause memory option to stop the chatbot from creating new memories while keeping its current memories intact. Or, you can choose the Reset memory option to permanently delete all memories, including project-specific memories. That way, you can manually dump what Claude knows about you every once in a while. While you're in the Memory settings, you can also use the new Import feature. Click the Start Import button to bring up the new menu. Up top, you'll see a prompt that you'll have to copy. After that, paste it into ChatGPT or Gemini to snag your memories from these bots. You'll get your results in a Markdown file. Back in Claude, paste the Markdown file into the textbox below the prompt you copied and click Add to memory. Claude will synthesize it, and it will add its data to its memory file.

Claude is topping the App Store charts thanks to 'cancel ChatGPT' trend -- but the US military is finding it hard to quit

* Claude has hit number one on the US Apple App Store chart * It's linked to anger over ChatGPT's deal with the US military * Claude continues to be used inside various US government agencies It seems that AI chatbot Claude is gaining a substantial number of new users in the wake of developer Anthropic's decision to step away from a deal with the US military: the app has now hit number one in Apple's App Store chart in the US. As reported by TechCrunch and others, Claude's popularity boost is linked to Anthropic's announcement late last week that it had failed to reach an agreement to supply AI services to the US Department of War (DoW) -- citing a lack of safeguards relating to mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons as the main stumbling block. ChatGPT developer OpenAI apparently had fewer qualms about the DoW deal, and jumped in to replace Anthropic. According to OpenAI, it was given assurances by US authorities that "safety principles" around mass surveillance and autonomous weapons would be adhered to going forward. However, ChatGPT's users aren't convinced. The ChatGPT Reddit is packed with reports of users quitting the AI app over the "dark direction" that OpenAI is heading in - and it appears that Claude is the alternative that many are switching too. Still in use Although Anthropic has refused to ink a new deal with the DoW, Claude is used extensively across US government departments -- something President Donald Trump wants to see changed in the light of the recent disagreements over safety and security. In a social media post (via The Guardian), Trump called Anthropic "a Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about". He went on to request that all government agencies stop using Claude with immediate effect -- although such a swift turnaround doesn't appear to be feasible. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the US military operation we've seen in Iran over the last few days has been assisted by Anthropic's AI. Claude is apparently still being used extensively by the White House and its security services, including US Central Command in the Middle East. A full switch to ChatGPT is going to take months, according to the WSJ. In the meantime, plenty of ordinary consumers who aren't working for the US government are moving in the opposite direction when it comes to AI tools. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

Switching to Anthropic? Claude can now take your memories from ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot

Anthropic has announced a new "memory" tool that allows Claude users to copy over their chats from other AI chatbots, giving those who want to switch over from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot an easy way. The new memory tool is available to paid Claude subscribers only and enables them to import saved memories from rival AI chatbots, and comes as more people seem to be turning toward Claude and away from ChatGPT over growing concerns about how, and to what end, the U.S. military will use AI chatbots. (While OpenAI signed a deal with the Pentagon, Anthropic said no.) As Fast Company previously reported, despite Pentagon demands to use AI assistants for "all lawful purposes," Anthropic pushed back, saying it did not want its technology to be used for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. After Anthropic refused to comply, the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labeled it a "supply chain risk," forcing military contractors to ditch it. On Reddit, the "Cancel ChatGPT" movement has users clapping back, posting screenshots of canceled subscriptions and deleted accounts and how to extract their data, and accusing OpenAI of having "no ethics at all". One other poster commented, "fastest install of my life."

Anthropic makes switching from competitors easier with new transfer memory tool - SiliconANGLE

Anthropic makes switching from competitors easier with new transfer memory tool As Anthropic PBC's Claude chatbot moves to the top of the app charts after a spat with the Trump administration, the company has introduced a memory import feature that will allow new customers to import their conversations from rival chatbots and start again with Claude. Late last week, Anthropic fell out with the Pentagon after the company refused to allow its technology to be used by the Department of War for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. President Trump reacted strongly, calling Anthropic's owners "left-wing nut jobs" and ordering all federal agencies to stop using the company's products. The blacklisting seems to have worked in Anthropic's favor, as its Claude model overtook ChatGPT to take the first spot on Apple Inc.'s App Store for free apps. The company reported outages after what it called an "unprecedented demand for Claude." If people are moving from other chatbots to Claude, the company says there is now a simple "copy-paste" solution to retain the memories from other products. Claude will import preferences and context from the AI providers, and "Claude updates its memory and picks up right where you left off." Claude will provide a prompt that will ask another chatbot to export its data in a code block. Users can then go to Claude's settings and find the "Capabilities" menu and hit the "start import" button from the "Memory" section. There, they can paste the code block and hit "Add to memory." The importing process might take as long as 24 hours to assimilate the memory fully. Anthropic says users can go to "See what Claude learned about you" to understand what has been imported from the other chatbot. If the user doesn't like any of the information, they can go to "Manage memory" and make adjustments. The process works for ChatGPT the same as it will work for Google LLC's Gemini or Microsoft Corp.'s Copilot. Google is currently working on its own method to make it easier to switch from competing chatbots, with the official rollout expected to come soon. ChatGPT doesn't offer such an option, though it does allow users to transfer conversations from one ChatGPT account to another.

Claude just beat ChatGPT on the App Store, and the reason is surprising

Public perception and geopolitics are suddenly part of the AI leaderboard. Anthropic's Claude has surged past ChatGPT on the App Store charts, marking one of the most dramatic shakeups yet in the consumer AI race. As reported first by CNBC, Claude jumped to the top download spots shortly after controversy erupted around AI partnerships with the U.S. Department of Defence. The timing has raised eyebrows across the tech industry. While AI app rankings often shift based on new features or marketing pushes, this spike appears tied to public reaction and growing debate around how AI companies work with governments. The result: a sudden wave of interest in alternatives. The surge highlights how quickly public perception can influence the AI market. Just months ago, ChatGPT dominated the charts almost uncontested. Now, the rankings are becoming far more competitive. A controversy-fueled download boost The rise of Claude appears closely linked to the broader debate over AI's role in defence and national security. Reports say the recent Pentagon-related controversy sparked heightened public scrutiny, pushing many users to explore alternative AI tools. Anthropic's positioning has played a role here. The company has repeatedly emphasised strict usage policies that prohibit domestic surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons. That message has resonated with some users looking for reassurance about how AI is deployed. At the same time, the spike in downloads shows how quickly public trust and brand perception can shift in the AI space. In fact, it has given rise to the "Cancel ChatGPT" trend on social media, which has further amplified public discussion around AI ethics and government partnerships. Claude's rise shows that the AI chatbot market is no longer dominated by a single player, as users now have multiple strong options and are willing to switch based on sentiment and trust. Technical performance alone is no longer enough, and transparency & public confidence matter just as much, making the AI leaderboard more volatile than ever.

Anthropic makes Claude memory feature free for all users

Anthropic announced that Claude's memory feature is now available for free tier users and introduced a new tool to import context from competing AI chatbots. The company stated that the memory import tool encourages users to switch from other systems by allowing them to export stored data. This update significantly lowers the barrier for users migrating between AI platforms by removing the cost associated with memory features. The import tool provides a method for users to transfer personal context, instructions, and project details without manual re-entry. The memory import tool operates by having users copy a specific prompt into a competing AI chatbot. Anthropic instructs users to paste this prompt to request an export of all stored memories and context. The prompt directs the competing chatbot to list every memory, personal detail, project, and preference in a single code block. It specifies formatting entries as "[date saved, if available] - memory content" and requires a confirmation that the output is complete. Users then copy the results from the competing chatbot and paste them into Claude's memory settings. Anthropic stated that this process works for switching between any AI chatbot systems with memory, including Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. Anthropic announced the availability of the memory feature on the free plan and the ease of importing saved memories. The company stated users can export their data whenever they want. The memory feature originally launched last summer. The recent increase in Claude's mindshare prompted this update to facilitate user migration.

How to Switch From ChatGPT to Claude With Just One Simple Prompt

Following Anthropic's stand off with the United States Department of War, President Trump's subsequent firing of Claude from government use, and OpenAI's surprise deal with the Pentagon, individual users are dumping ChatGPT and flocking to Claude. On Saturday, the Claude mobile app rose to the top spot on the iOS App Store, surpassing ChatGPT for the first time. At that same time, TechCrunch has reported that uninstalls of the ChatGPT mobile app jumped 295 percent compared to the previous day. But switching AI providers isn't always a seamless experience. The more often you use an AI platform, the more it gains an understanding about you, your work, and your personal context, which is why starting over with a new AI can feel like taking a major step back. Now, Anthropic is looking to capitalize on its newfound momentum among consumers by making it easy to transfer context about yourself from rival AI providers like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to Claude.

Claude climbs App Store charts as #QuitGPT movement gains steam

Sam Hill is a journalist living in Portland, Oregon. He's dabbled in many industries, previously writing about commercial fishing, the drone industry, aquaculture, video games, and internet culture. He moved from New England to the Pacific Northwest in 2019 to escape the snow and fell in love with the West Coast. The AI chatbot Claude has leapfrogged OpenAI's ChatGPT to become the most downloaded free app on Apple's U.S. App Store. The climb comes amid growing public scrutiny of ChatGPT following OpenAI's announcement that it would collaborate with the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy AI technology on classified networks. Earlier this week, President Trump directed all federal agencies to immediately stop using any AI technology from Anthropic, the company behind Claude. The order followed a week-long standoff in which the administration sought to have Anthropic allow its technology to support mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous military weapons -- two uses the company had refused to approve. Why some users are leaving ChatGPT To protest OpenAI's government contract, some are leaving the platform for other AI models Once Anthropic left the conversation, OpenAI stepped in, and the backlash has been swift -- users are jumping ship from ChatGPT to other AI tools in what can feel like a protest. Social media platforms, forums, and app reviews show many switching from ChatGPT to Claude, citing concerns over the ethical implications of how AI might be deployed. "QuitGPT" has emerged as the latest expression of a growing wave of users and activists abandoning the chatbot. In recent weeks, Reddit has been flooded with posts from people sharing their experiences quitting ChatGPT. The latest chapter of frustration with OpenAI policy outcry over other issues like OpenAI President Greg Brockman made a $25 million personal donation to a pro-Trump super PAC or ICE using GPT-4-powered tools in hiring and screening. According to a recent report from Tom's Guide, 700,000 users are reportedly ditching ChatGPT for other tools. What AI alternatives are people using? For many users leaving ChatGPT, Claude has become the go-to alternative -- both for its performance and its principled stance. According to Mashable, an Anthropic spokesperson said that free users of Claude have grown by more than 60% since January, daily signups have tripled since November -- setting new records every day this week -- and paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year. The spokesperson added that Claude was ranked #42 in the U.S. App Store before Super Bowl LX and has since climbed into the top 10. Outside of the recent political and ethical controversies, many users prefer Claude over ChatGPT for its larger context window, flexible writing styles, and superior data visualization and artifact tools. Subscribe to our newsletter for AI market insights Want sharper context on AI shifts? Subscribe to our newsletter for thoughtful analysis of chatbot market moves, ethics debates, and features vs. tradeoffs, plus broader AI trend coverage across tools, governance, and product decisions. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. Other AI chatbots are also attracting users. Google's Gemini is popular for those embedded in the Google ecosystem, offering deep integration with Gmail, Docs, and Drive, along with image and music generation features in chat. Perplexity appeals to developers and technical users looking for raw reasoning performance and lower API costs. Across the board, the trend shows that consumers are actively weighing not just features, but ethics and governance when choosing their AI tools -- a shift that has made the market more competitive than ever.

Claude takes top App Store spot after ChatGPT users shift

Anthropic launched a new memory import tool for its Claude AI chatbot. The tool extracts memories and context from competing AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot. Users can copy and paste the extracted data into a prompt for Claude to assimilate. This feature significantly lowers the barrier for users switching to Claude from rival platforms. It allows the AI to pick up where users left off with previous chatbots, preserving conversational history. Anthropic stated that the tool aims to enhance Claude's effectiveness as a work collaborator. The process requires users to feed a text prompt containing the extracted data into Claude. The AI chatbot takes approximately 24 hours to learn the new context. Users can manage and tweak what Claude remembers in the app's settings. Anthropic noted that Claude is designed to focus on work-related topics. The company added that the AI might not remember personal details unrelated to work. This focus aligns with the company's recent strategic positioning regarding AI guardrails. Anthropic recently refused a Department of Defense contract due to disputes over AI guardrails. The company cited concerns regarding mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. OpenAI is reportedly taking the vacated Department of Defense role. Following these events, users began boycotting ChatGPT and canceling subscriptions. Claude subsequently jumped to the number one spot in the App Store's free apps charts. The timing of the new tool's release coincides with this rise in popularity. Anthropic is an AI safety and research company. The company develops general AI systems. The new tool is available to users in the app's settings.

Anthropic's Claude chatbot climbs to no.1 on Apple's US App Store amid Pentagon contract row - The Economic Times

Anthropic's chatbot Claude has surged to the number one spot in the free app rankings on the US Apple App Store. On Saturday evening, it moved ahead of OpenAI's ChatGPT to take the position, where it remains. Figures from digital market intelligence platform Sensor Tower show that at the end of January, Claude was just outside the top 100. However, by mid-February, the company's Super Bowl advertisement, which mocked ads in ChatGPT, helped lift it into the top 10 on the US store. It continued to climb, eventually securing first place on Saturday. According to news site TechCrunch, daily registrations have reached record levels every day this week. The number of free users has risen by more than 60% since January, while paid subscriptions have more than doubled since the start of the year. India has also become a major market for Claude. Peter McCrory, Anthropic's head of economics, told ET that India now ranks second worldwide in overall usage of Claude.ai. Nearly half of the activity there is linked to work-related tasks, underlining the platform's growing professional appeal. The company's success comes against a tense political backdrop. After Anthropic sought safeguards to prevent the US Department of Defense from using its AI systems for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's products. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth went further, designating the firm a supply-chain risk. Trump and Hegseth accused Anthropic and its chief executive, Dario Amodei, of putting national security at risk after he refused to soften his stance on the potential misuse of AI for surveillance and autonomous weaponry. The Pentagon's decision to classify the company as a defence supply-chain concern will terminate its contract, reportedly worth up to $200 million, and block other defence contractors from working with it. Meanwhile, seizing the opportunity, OpenAI revealed its own deal with the Pentagon. Chief executive Sam Altman claimed the agreement contains protections relating to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. However, during an Ask Me Anything session on X on Saturday, Altman described the government's treatment of Anthropic as a dangerous precedent for the AI industry and the country.

Anthropic's Claude tops app charts after Pentagon blacklist

The AI chatbot Claude has surged to the top of app store rankings in the US after being blacklisted by the Pentagon. Developed by Anthropic, Claude climbed to No. 1 among free iPhone apps in the United States, overtaking ChatGPT, after the Defense Department moved to cut ties with the company. For those unfamiliar, the spike followed a public clash between Anthropic and the Trump administration. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labeled the firm a "supply-chain risk" after CEO Dario Amodei refused to ease restrictions on the use of its AI for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. President Donald Trump criticized the company on social media, and the Pentagon instead struck a deal with OpenAI to provide AI tools for classified military networks. Despite (or perhaps because of) the dispute, Anthropic reported record-breaking growth (via Sensor Tower and Downdetector). The company said daily sign-ups hit all-time highs last week, though the surge briefly caused service outages amid what it called "unprecedented demand." Analysts note the episode has turned a policy fight over AI ethics into a commercial boost, with users flocking to Claude as debate intensifies over how artificial intelligence should be deployed in national security...

Claude Hits #1 on App Store As 'Cancel ChatGPT' Trends Over OpenAI's Pentagon Deal

Meanwhile, OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker has signed a deal with the DoD, which has triggered "Cancel ChatGPT" backlash. Anthropic's Claude AI has climbed to the top spot on Apple's US App Store, overtaking OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. This surge in downloads came after Anthropic refused the US Department of War to remove certain safety guardrails from Claude AI. According to reports, defense officials wanted to use Claude AI for mass domestic surveillance of Americans and in fully autonomous weapons systems without human oversight. In a blog post, Anthropic wrote, "in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values". Over the threat that Anthropic could be designated a "supply-chain risk" or face action under the Defense Production Act, the company added, "these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request". Anthropic maintains that current AI technology is not reliable enough to safely operate in extreme high-stakes situations. Following the public standoff, President Trump directed all federal agencies to "immediately cease" use of Anthropic's technology and called Anthropic a "radical left" company. Amid the fallout, OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker, signed an agreement with the US Department of War to deploy its AI models for classified work, and to replace Anthropic. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on X, "Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network". OpenAI mentioned that its contract prohibits domestic mass surveillance and use of its technology for autonomous weapon systems. However, some critics argue that there are no caveats. The language is much broader and references to "unconstrained monitoring" and "for all lawful purposes" indicate that there is room for interpretation. OpenAI is now facing backlash over its contract with the DoD and "Cancel ChatGPT" is trending all over the internet as users are looking for a capable ChatGPT alternative. Meanwhile, Anthropic's Claude AI now ranks as the No. 1 app under the Free category of Productivity apps. According to an estimate, Anthropic recorded 503,424 downloads on February 28, which was its largest single day installs in history.

Anthropic's Claude Tops Apple App Store Charts Day After Trump Administration Bars Agency Use - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Anthropic's Claude AI assistant app has climbed to the number one spot on Apple's App Store charts in the U.S. amid a backdrop of political controversy. Claude's Rise Amid Controversy Anthropic's Claude AI assistant app surged to the top position on Apple's free apps chart in the U.S. on Saturday, according to a report by CNBC. This comes a day after the Trump administration attempted to block government agencies from adopting the AI startup's technology. The app's popularity appears to be influenced by its recent media attention, which is linked to its stance against using its models for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. President Donald Trump criticized Anthropic on Truth Social, calling their actions a "DISASTROUS MISTAKE." Pete Hegseth, the Department of Defense Secretary, has asked for Anthropic to be considered a supply-chain risk, preventing U.S. defense contractors from using its tools. In response, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, expressed hope for reconsideration due to the value their technology offers to the military. How Are Rivals Faring?Claude Used In Operation Against Iran Just hours after the Trump administration's ban, the Pentagon reportedly used Claude AI during a major air operation against Iran. Amodei has expressed concerns about the rapid concentration of AI power among a few companies, raising questions about the influence these entities wield. The launch of Claude Code Security, an AI-driven tool for identifying software vulnerabilities, has also stirred the cybersecurity sector. This tool's ability to autonomously detect complex software flaws underscores the potential and risks associated with AI advancements. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Anthropic's Claude now lets you transfer AI chat histories from rivals, here's how

It may take up to 24 hours for Claude to fully absorb and apply the imported data. Anthropic has introduced a new feature for its Claude AI chatbot that makes switching from other AI services much easier. The company has launched a memory import tool that allows users to bring over their saved context and chat history from other AI platforms. The idea is simple. If you've been using another AI chatbot and want to switch to Claude, you don't have to start from scratch. Anthropic provides a specific prompt that you can paste into your current AI chatbot. That chatbot will then generate a full list of everything it remembers about you. Keep reading to know how you can switch from another AI chatbot to Claude. Also read: OpenAI's ChatGPT uninstalls surge 295% amid backlash over DoD partnership Step 1: Copy and paste the following prompt into a chat with your current AI chatbot. Prompt: 'I'm moving to another service and need to export my data. List every memory you have stored about me, as well as any context you've learned about me from past conversations. Output everything in a single code block so I can easily copy it. Format each entry as: [date saved, if available] - memory content. Make sure to cover all of the following -- preserve my words verbatim where possible: Instructions I've given you about how to respond (tone, format, style, 'always do X', 'never do Y'). Personal details: name, location, job, family, interests. Projects, goals, and recurring topics. Tools, languages, and frameworks I use. Preferences and corrections I've made to your behavior. Any other stored context not covered above. Do not summarize, group, or omit any entries. After the code block, confirm whether that is the complete set or if any remain.' Step 2: After the other chatbot provides the information, copy the results and paste them into Claude's memory settings. After that, Claude will start processing the data. Also read: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, S26 Plus, S26 price in India, Dubai, USA and more compared: Which country offers the lowest cost It may take up to 24 hours for Claude to fully absorb and apply the imported data. Users can check what Claude has learned by clicking the 'See what Claude learned about you' button. There is also a 'Manage memory' section in the app's settings, where users can review or edit stored information.

Anthropic's Claude beats OpenAI ChatGPT on App Store charts: Check complete details

Record users show trust and public opinion affect AI app popularity. Anthropic's Claude has climbed to the top of the ladder at Apple's US App Store, overtaking OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. The change in rankings comes after days of heated debate over how artificial intelligence companies should work with the US Department of Defence. While app charts often move with product updates or marketing campaigns, this spike appears to be driven by public reaction. The conflict and the timing of the rise have turned a routine app ranking into a larger conversation about trust and values in the fast-growing AI market. Claude rose steadily through February before jumping to the number one spot over the weekend. It was first spotted by CNBC. Just weeks ago, the AI chatbot was ranked outside the top 100 free apps in the United States. However, now the app sits ahead of its rival ChatGPT, which had held the leading position for most of the month, and ahead of Google's Gemini, which remains among the top five. Also read: Cancel GPT: Why Sam Altman and OpenAI getting criticism all over internet again The surge in the ranking followed the public disagreements between Anthropic and the US officials. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has said the company does not want its AI models used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. After negotiations with the Pentagon stalled, President Donald Trump criticised the company in a social media post and directed federal agencies to stop using its products. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also moved to restrict its use within defence supply chains. Also read: Google Pixel 10 Pro deal: Save over Rs 8,800, here's how Sam Altman has also announced that OpenAI had reached its own agreement with the defence department at the same time. Altman framed the deal as a strategic move to prevent the government from blacklisting the entire AI industry. He said, 'I think the current path things are on is dangerous for Anthropic, healthy competition, and the US. We moved quickly to de-escalate. We negotiated to make sure similar terms would be offered to all other AI labs.' Also read: New Apple MacBooks are coming soon, here's what fans are saying Anthropic says daily sign-ups have hit record levels this week, with free users up sharply since January and paid subscriptions more than doubling this year. The rapid change suggests that public opinion can quickly reshape the AI market. Performance still matters, but so does trust. As competition grows, user choice may depend not only on features but also on how companies handle difficult questions about power and responsibility.