Elon Musk has threatened legal action against Apple on behalf of his AI startup xAI. He claims Apple has violated antitrust laws by favoring OpenAI in its App Store rankings. Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “Apple is preventing any AI company other than OpenAI from reaching the #1 spot in the App Store. This is a clear violation of antitrust laws and we will be filing a lawsuit immediately.”
This statement comes as xAI's AI app 'Grok' remains in the fifth place in the US App Store's free app rankings, while OpenAI's ChatGPT is in the first place. Musk questioned Apple's political intentions, asking, "Why aren't X or Grok in the 'essential apps' section, when X is the number one news app in the world?"
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded, saying, “This is a surprising statement, considering the claim that Musk manipulated X to benefit himself and his company and disadvantage his competitors.” Musk responded by calling Altman a “liar,” and the feud between the two parties erupted into a war of words on social media. The two have been at odds since they co-founded OpenAI in 2015, and Musk has filed a lawsuit against Altman, accusing him of “violating principles” over the company’s commercialization process and shift to a Microsoft-centric strategy.
X users have pointed out in community notes that non-OpenAI apps, such as DeepSeek and Perplexity, have also reached number one on the Apple App Store this year. Apple announced a partnership in June 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into iOS and macOS, but no evidence has been presented that this discriminated against any specific app.
Musk's remarks come amid growing pressure from global regulators on Apple's App Store operations. Earlier this year, Apple was fined €500 million in antitrust fines by the EU and is also being sued by the US Department of Justice for maintaining a monopoly on the iPhone. All eyes are on how this legal battle will impact the AI competition between the two sides and the app market landscape.
