Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has filed a lawsuit through his artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI, alleging that Apple and OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, are hindering competition among AI companies.
According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 25th (local time), Musk's companies xAI and X (formerly Twitter) filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas, claiming that Apple has favored OpenAI by integrating OpenAI's AI models into Apple devices. They argue that this preferential treatment has disrupted competition in the AI industry and deprived consumers of choice.
The lawsuit also alleges that Apple has prevented competing apps like xAI's Grok from ranking highly in the App Store.
In the legal documents, they stated, "Apple has partnered with the company that benefits most from hindering competition and innovation in the AI market, in a desperate attempt to protect its smartphone monopoly," adding, "OpenAI holds a dominant position in the generative AI chatbot market."
Previously, on the 11th, Musk hinted at the lawsuit on X, stating, "Apple is acting in a way that prevents any AI company other than OpenAI from reaching the top position in the App Store. This is a clear antitrust violation."
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, responded by sharing Musk's post on his own X account, saying, "Given the rumors that Elon is manipulating X to benefit himself and his companies while harming competitors and people he dislikes, this is a surprising claim." Some X users also refuted Musk's claims, pointing out that after Apple and OpenAI formed their partnership, other AI companies such as Perplexity and China's DeepSeek have reached the top position in the App Store.
Musk was previously a founding member of OpenAI alongside Altman, but after their split, he has strongly criticized both Altman and OpenAI. Last year, he filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, claiming that they broke their initial promise to operate as a non-profit organization and instead pursued profit.
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