Elon Musk’s xAI filed a lawsuit on Monday against Apple and OpenAI claiming they’re conspiring to stifle competition in artificial intelligence apps.
This comes two weeks after Musk took to social media to complain that the No. 1 Top Free App in the iPhone App Store at the time was OpenAI’s ChatGPT, not the Grok app from xAI, an AI startup that the billionaire owns.
Musk complains because xAI isn’t No. 1 on the App Store
Artificial intelligence is hot, hot, hot right now, and OpenAI is arguably the most successful company in the emerging AI business. Its ChatGPT service attracts 700 million weekly users. That crazy level of customer adoption regularly drives the ChatGPT iPhone/iPad application to at or near the top on Apple’s list of Top Free Apps in the App Store. But that’s not what Elon Musk thinks.
“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation,” Musk posted August 12 on X, the social-media platform he also owns. “xAI will take immediate legal action.”
The billionaire followed through with his threat on Monday, suing both Apple and OpenAI, according to Reuters. The suit claims that the two companies “locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing.”
Not so fast…
The deal that lets users of Apple devices access ChatGPT through Siri alongside other Apple Intelligence features surely fuels Musk’s suspicion. But community notes attached to Musk’s social media post point out that Chinese AI app DeepSeek earned the coveted No. 1 spot back in January.
Apple responded to Musk’s original claim with a denial.
“The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias,” the company said, according to Bloomberg. “We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria.”
Also, ChatGPT is not currently the No. 1 application on the Top Free Apps list — it’s fallen to No. 2.
Grok also isn’t a ‘Must Have’ app
Elon Musk’s earlier tizzy about the App Store earlier included another complaint on X.
“Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either 𝕏 or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when 𝕏 is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?” he wrote on X. “Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know.”
Applications make Apple’s “Must Have” list based on other considerations aside from popularity. It’s a curated collection, with the apps standing out for innovation, top-quality design, using the latest Apple features and other factors.
