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

**March 3 Update: AI-Government Collaboration Debates Intensify** Controversy over Anthropic’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is escalating. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted snippets of an internal email on social media outlining the company’s core principles for working with the DoD: *“We will not build autonomous weapons without human oversight.”* The move is widely seen as a public contrast amid the Anthropic debate. Tech commentator Packy McCormick, citing Ben Thompson, highlighted the so-called “Hype Tax”: *“If you don’t want the government to treat your tech like a nuclear weapon, don’t frame it as one yourself.”* The commentary critiques some AI firms for overhyping technological disruption, noting this framing could backfire in policy and regulation. Since OpenAI announced its DoD collaboration, the ChatGPT mobile app’s uninstall rate has spiked sharply in the U.S. Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower reports that on Saturday, Feb. 28, ChatGPT’s daily uninstalls jumped 295% from the prior day—by contrast, the app’s average daily uninstall growth over the past 30 days was just 9%. Debates over AI firms’ government collaboration boundaries, technological framing, and user churn trends continue.