Anthropic's Controversial US Department of Defense Contract: Altman Reaffirms Military Principles, ChatGPT Uninstallation Rate Surges

BlockBeats News, March 3rd, the controversy surrounding Anthropic's collaboration with the US Department of Defense continues to escalate. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently shared excerpts from an internal email on social media, outlining OpenAI's fundamental principles for working with the DoD — "will not build autonomous weapons without human oversight." This move is widely seen as a public comparison and positioning amid the Anthropic controversy.

Tech commentator Packy McCormick, citing Ben Thompson's view, pointed out the so-called "Hype Tax" — "If you don't want the government to treat your technology as a nuclear weapon, then don't equate your technology to a nuclear weapon." This commentary is seen as a reflection on some AI companies' overhyping of technology disruption, suggesting that this narrative may backfire at the policy and regulatory levels.

Following OpenAI's announcement of collaboration with the US Department of Defense, the uninstallation rate of the ChatGPT mobile app in the US market has surged significantly. According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, on February 28th (Saturday), ChatGPT's daily uninstallation volume in the US increased by 295% compared to the previous day. In contrast, the average daily uninstallation growth of the app in the past 30 days was only 9%.

Currently, discussions about the boundaries of AI companies' collaboration with the government, the narrative around technology, and user migration trends are still ongoing.