More than a million users a day are signing up for Claude — as Anthropic hits out at its 'legally unsound' US government ban

• The US government has labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk
• Anthropic says it will challenge the decision in the courts
• Claude users shouldn't be affected — and usage numbers are up

The US government has now officially designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk over the AI company's unwillingness to sign an intelligence deal with the Pentagon, a move that Anthropic is planning to challenge in the courts.

In an official blog post, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has described the decision as "legally unsound". It follows a turbulent week of reaction to Anthropic's decision to step away from partnership discussions with the US military, over concerns around mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.

A company is declared to be a supply chain risk when US authorities believe that doing business with that company would compromise national security. It's the first time a US company has been officially given the label.

The move shouldn't have much effect on Claude's users — as Amodei says, the supply chain risk designation "exists to protect the government rather than to punish a supplier", and doesn't cover anything outside of official government usage.

A boost in users

While Anthropic and the White House try and settle their differences (and there are some indications that a Pentagon deal could still be signed), Claude is enjoying a healthy boost in user numbers — perhaps due to its ethical stance over AI in the military.

According to Anthropic's Mike Kreiger, more than a million people are now signing up for Claude every day. Claude doesn't publish its user numbers, but was thought to have around 20 million active monthly users at the start of the year.

A significant proportion of those new arrivals might be fleeing from ChatGPT. Its developer OpenAI has signed a deal with the US military after Anthropic pulled out, a move that has been met with a wave of criticism from ChatGPT users.

Based on a leaked internal memo, Anthropic's Amodei thinks that the ChatGPT deal is mostly "safety theater", and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has himself described it as "rushed". It's likely that there's more to come from this story over the coming days.

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