Elon Musk is once again turning his attention to Apple, and this time, he’s not mincing words. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO accused Apple of giving OpenAI’s ChatGPT special treatment in the App Store, calling it an “unequivocal antitrust violation” and hinted at a potential lawsuit.
The Backstory
Last month, Musk’s AI company, xAI, launched Grok 4, a major upgrade to its chatbot that promised big leaps in speed and intelligence. Alongside the update came new features like Grok Imagine for AI-generated images and videos, plus customizable “companion” chatbots.
That push helped Grok climb the App Store charts. According to App Figures, the app jumped from around 60th place overall to 29th last week. Today, after making Grok 4 free worldwide, xAI’s app hit No. 5 overall and No. 2 in the Productivity category.
But at the very top? ChatGPT. The OpenAI app has sat in or near the No. 1 spot for most of the past year, and Musk thinks Apple’s helping keep it there.
Why Musk is Mad
Apple has given ChatGPT a lot of visibility. Beyond frequently featuring it in App Store editorial picks, the company recently partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence, its upcoming AI upgrade for iOS. That includes deep Siri integration and new Writing Tools powered by OpenAI’s tech.
Musk claims this relationship has crossed the line into anticompetitive territory. In a post on X, he blasted Apple for leaving both Grok and X (formerly Twitter) out of the App Store’s “Must Have” section despite their chart positions. “The people have spoken,” Musk said, pointing out that X is currently the top news app in the U.S. and Grok is fifth overall.
The Bigger Fight
This isn’t Musk’s first run-in with OpenAI. He co-founded the company in 2015 but left a few years later, eventually suing it over its for-profit pivot, a case that’s still in progress. With xAI, he’s been trying to build a rival to ChatGPT, and his latest accusations suggest he sees Apple as playing a key role in OpenAI’s dominance.
Whether he’ll actually take Apple to court is another question. Musk is known for high-profile threats that don’t always turn into real legal battles. For now, all we know is that he’s publicly drawing a line, and putting both Apple and OpenAI on notice.
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