No matter the outcome for Anthropic in its conflict with the Department of Defense, the publicity it has garnered, combined with the humorous Super Bowl ads targeting OpenAI and the rising success of Claude Code, has boosted its consumer popularity more than ever.
A study of billions of anonymous credit card transactions from nearly 28 million U.S. consumers, conducted by Indagari, a consumer transaction analysis firm, for TechCrunch, reveals a significant increase in paid subscriptions for Claude.
While big-data analysis has limitations and doesn’t cover every consumer, Indagari notes that estimates for total Claude consumer users vary widely, with figures ranging from 18 to 30 million, though Anthropic hasn’t disclosed specific numbers. However, Claude’s paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year, according to a company spokesperson.
It’s remarkable that consumers subscribed to Claude in record numbers between January and February, and an increased number of previous users returned to Claude in February, as reported by Indagari.
Most new subscribers are at the lowest tier, becoming “Pro” users at $20 monthly, compared to $100 or $200 for higher tiers. The trend of subscriber growth continued into early March.
Anthropic released Super Bowl ads that humorously critiqued ChatGPT’s decision to display ads, asserting that Claude would never follow suit. These ads were both entertaining and effective, even drawing a sharp reaction from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The contention began in late January with media outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Axios covering the intensifying dispute between Anthropic and the DoD. The dispute focused on military use of Anthropic’s AI for lethal autonomous operations or mass surveillance, leading to a public disagreement and legal actions after the DoD labeled Anthropic a supply risk, despite a temporary federal injunction blocking the designation.
During this time, new user growth surged, notably after media reports and CEO Dario Amodei’s public statement on February 26.
Beyond the conflict, new tools like Claude Code and Claude Cowork introduced in January, as well as the Computer Use feature, have fueled subscriptions. This feature allows Claude autonomous computer navigation and task execution, available with devices like Dispatch, but not for free-tier users.
Despite Anthropic’s growth in attracting U.S. consumers for paid AI services, Claude still trails far behind ChatGPT. Following OpenAI’s collaboration announcement with the DoD, despite immediate subscriber losses, it remains the leading consumer AI platform.