After OpenAI signed a contract with the US military, a 'Cancel ChatGPT' movement gained attention online.

Cancel culture arose in response to OpenAI, which signed a contract with the US Department of Defense (Department of War) on behalf of Anthropic.

'Cancel ChatGPT' movement goes big after OpenAI's latest move | Windows Central
https://www.windowscentral.com/artificial-intelligence/cancel-chatgpt-movement-goes-mainstream-after-openai-closes-deal-with-us-department-of-war-as-anthropic-refuses-to-surveil-american-citizens

'No ethics at all': the 'cancel ChatGPT' trend is growing after OpenAI signs a deal with the US military | TechRadar
https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/chatgpt/no-ethics-at-all-the-cancel-chatgpt-trend-is-growing-after-openai-signs-a-deal-with-the-us-military

Anthropic, which provided custom models of the AI 'Claude' to the US military, had in place safeguards that prevented its AI from being used for mass surveillance of citizens or to build fully autonomous weapons. However, the US government was not happy with this and forced Anthropic to either remove the safeguards or terminate its contract.

Anthropic strongly opposed the removal of safeguards, prompting Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to terminate the contract with Anthropic and designate the company as a 'supply chain risk.' Companies previously designated as supply chain risks include China's Huawei and Russia's Kaspersky, both of which are U.S. adversaries, but no U.S. company has ever been designated a supply chain risk. Anthropic plans to challenge the decision in court.

President Trump claims that Anthropic's left-wing fanatics have attempted to control the U.S. military, and orders the severance of ties. Secretary of Defense Hegseth will designate Anthropic as a 'supply chain risk' - GIGAZINE

Shortly after this, the Department of Defense partnered with OpenAI, but OpenAI also had safeguards in place, such as not using its own AI for large-scale surveillance or autonomous weapons systems.

OpenAI agrees to AI contract with Department of Defense, shortly after Anthropic negotiations collapse - GIGAZINE

Users are increasingly dissatisfied with OpenAI, wondering if it shares the same beliefs that Anthropic upheld even at the expense of its own profits. They are canceling their subscriptions to ChatGPT, an AI service provided by OpenAI, and switching to other AIs, including Claude.

On the online message board Reddit, a claim that 'OpenAI is training a war machine' has been gaining attention. One comment reads: 'OpenAI implemented the same safeguards as Anthropic, yet Hegseth and others somehow agreed to them. They kept saying the bans were a national security risk. And now we know that OpenAI co-founder and current president Greg Brockman indirectly donated to Donald Trump. So, this means the Trump administration accepted bribes from OpenAI to destroy its biggest competitor, Anthropic. This is clearly fraud. I recommend canceling all ChatGPT subscriptions.'

Concurrent with the cancellation of ChatGPT, Claude's popularity has also been observed to rise.

Claude rises to number one in the App Store rankings, users support Anthropic's conflict with the government - GIGAZINE