Elon Musk’s companies sue Apple and OpenAI for hurting AI competition; says: ‘In a desperate bid to…’

Elon Musk-owned companies, X and xAI, have filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of an "anticompetitive scheme" to restrict the growth of AI rivals. According to a report by CNBC, the recent lawsuit alleges that the two companies have "colluded" to maintain monopolies in the smartphone and generative AI markets. The legal complaint also accuses Apple of giving preference to OpenAI's ChatGPT by integrating it into Apple products while actively deprioritising competing AI chatbots, such as xAI's Grok, in its App Store rankings. This lawsuit follows Musk's public threat earlier this month to sue Apple for what he called an "unequivocal antitrust violation."

What Elon Musk’s companies said in their lawsuit

In the lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Musk’s companies alleged: “In a desperate bid to protect its smartphone monopoly, Apple has joined forces with the company that most benefits from inhibiting competition and innovation in AI: OpenAI, a monopolist in the market for generative AI chatbots.”In an X post shared earlier this month, Musk threatened to sue both companies. He wrote: “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. xAI will take immediate legal action.”

Replying to Musk’s threat, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said: “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like.”Previously, an Apple spokesperson has also clarified that the App Store was built to be “fair and free of bias,” adding that it highlights “thousands of apps” based on a range of signals.Last year, Apple partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.Following Musk’s post on X, several users responded through the Community Notes feature, pointing out that competing chatbot apps like DeepSeek and Perplexity were ranked No. 1 on the App Store after the Apple-OpenAI partnership was revealed.The lawsuit marks the latest development in Musk’s ongoing feud with Altman. Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left in 2018 over differences about the company’s direction.In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, alleging they breached their agreement by prioritising commercial interests over the original goal of developing AI “for the benefit of humanity broadly.”