Anthropic to everyone: Switch to Claude without ‘Starting Over’, here’s what it means

AI giant Anthropic recently said not to the Pentagon deal and the company is now making a bold pitch to users. Anthropic is urging the users to move to its Claude chatbot without losing months of context built up with rival platforms.

The company has unveiled an updated interface which enable users to import their history from other chatbot in under a minute, part of an aggressive campaign to expand Claude’s reach in the time of mounting political and regulatory challenges.

Seamless migration to Claude

Anthropic introduced the data import tools for the first time in October 2025, but the company says that the new system is “significantly improved.” Users simply copy and paste a pre-written prompt into another chatbot, which transfers their prior context into Claude.

A new landing page promotes the feature with the tagline: “Switch to Claude without starting over.”“You’ve spent months teaching another AI how you work. That context shouldn’t disappear because you want to try something new. Claude can import what matters, so your first conversation feels like your hundredth,” the page reads.

The rising popularity

This overhaul comes as Claude is witnessing surge in its popularity, becoming the most downloaded free app in Apple’s App Store, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. CEO Dario Amodei has positioned Claude as a safer, more responsible alternative, even as he faces a standoff with the Pentagon over restrictions on military use.

Political backdrop and Anthropic’s expansion

Anthropic’s expansion is unfolding against a tense political backdrop. President Donald Trump has blasted the company as “woke” and pushed to block its use across federal agencies. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally designated Anthropic a “supply-chain risk,” a move the company calls “unprecedented” and vows to challenge in court.Amodei has refused to compromise on two exceptions: banning the use of Claude in fully autonomous weapons and in mass surveillance of American citizens. Hours after Anthropic rejected a Pentagon deal, OpenAI struck its own agreement, sparking backlash among some users.