More People Uninstalling ChatGPT, Here's the Reason
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The movement among users to collectively delete (uninstall) the ChatGPT app has emerged following the rift in relations between the United States government and Anthropic. At that time, Anthropic firmly stated it would not allow its AI tools to be used by the US military to create autonomous weapons or spy on US citizens.
Anthropic’s stance was immediately praised by many parties, but it angered the Donald Trump administration, which banned the use of Anthropic’s AI tools in government institutions. Anthropic’s AI tools were even added to the ‘supply chain risk’ list.
Amid the turmoil at the time, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announced a new partnership with the US government to supply AI tools. Many members of the public were furious with that decision and immediately initiated the deletion of ChatGPT from their phones, replacing it with Anthropic’s Claude app.
It turns out that the wave of ChatGPT app uninstalls has been ongoing since 2025. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI failed to meet its internal target of gathering 1 billion weekly active users for ChatGPT throughout 2025.
Not only the user target, but ChatGPT also failed to achieve its 2025 annual revenue target. This has further sharpened investors’ doubts regarding the results of the massive investments poured into AI development.
Internal shocks at OpenAI were also revealed by CFO Sarah Friar. She disclosed the fact that the company might not be able to pay for future computing contracts if it does not soon generate money. There are also rumours of an IPO this year, which could increase pressure even further.
OpenAI appears to be attempting to generate revenue from paid ChatGPT subscriptions. However, it is not yet known whether those efforts will yield significant results.
According to the latest data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, as reported by The Verge, the uninstallation of the ChatGPT app has increased by 132% year-over-year (YoY) in April 2026.
OpenAI’s move to sign a contract with the Pentagon, seen as opportunistic and reckless, has even resulted in worse uninstall actions. Throughout March 2026, the number of ChatGPT uninstalls increased by 413% YoY.
Meanwhile, Anthropic, a strong competitor to OpenAI, recently surpassed the valuation of ChatGPT’s creator, reaching US$1 trillion in the secondary market. Claude’s user growth is far faster than ChatGPT’s.
According to Sensor Tower, Claude downloads grew by around 1,000% YoY, compared to ChatGPT download growth of only 14% YoY in the same period.