Did ChatGPT’s Pentagon deal spark a loss of users?
ChatGPT has a definite early-mover advantage, as the report notes: “users remain willing to try alternative AI assistants.” This became most evident in March this year as OpenAI’s decision to sign an agreement with the Pentagon—after Anthropic’s blacklisting—triggered a surge in uninstalls of the ChatGPT app, likely in protest. ChatGPT uninstalls peaked at 202% above its usual numbers in the second week of March, the report shows. The Claude app was the biggest beneficiary of this uninstall spree, as its global market share rose from 5.1% in February to 10% in April.
Read more SpaceX Will Buy AI Coding Firm Cursor For $60 Billion
Tangent
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that OpenAI was considering major price cuts for its AI tools in a bid to compete with rival Anthropic. While this is directed at enterprise customers and won’t directly affect app spending, it comes at as the monetization of AI platforms and the cost of using agents is facing growing scrutiny. On the consumer apps front, Google slashed the subscription price of its cheapest Gemini AI Plus plan from $8 per month to $5 per month earlier this month. OpenAI’s cheapest “Go” tier pricing remains at $8 per month. Claude, on the other hand, does not offer a “lite” or low-cost tier for users as its base plans start at $20 per month. ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude’s monetization efforts are likely to face some pressure as Apple begins to roll out Siri AI later this year, which has features that partly run locally on a user’s iPhone or other Apple devices instead of relying on a subscription.
Read more SpaceX Shares Soar Again In Premarket As It Inches Towards $2.75 Trillion Market Cap
Big Number
$4.25 billion. That is how much consumers are expected to spend on AI apps in the first half of 2026, according to the Sensor Tower report. This is up from $1.83 billion in H1 2025 and $3.1 billion in H2 2025.
Read more FIFA World Cup: Iran Team Claims It Was Not Allowed To Remain In U.S. Overnight After First Game