Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Texas against Apple and OpenAI, accusing the companies of illegally conspiring to stifle competition in the AI market. The lawsuit alleges that Apple and OpenAI have “locked up markets to maintain their monopolies,” specifically through their recently announced partnership that integrates OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Apple’s operating systems for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. xAI claims this exclusive deal unfairly prevents competitors, including its own Grok chatbot, from gaining prominence.
The legal challenge focuses on Apple’s App Store practices, arguing that the tech giant has no incentive to feature competing AI apps like Grok due to its arrangement with OpenAI. xAI is seeking billions of dollars in alleged damages, contending that this partnership constitutes an anti-competitive maneuver that harms innovation and consumer choice. An OpenAI spokesperson dismissed the lawsuit as “consistent with Mr. Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment,” while Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk publicly echoed the lawsuit’s allegations on his social media platform, X, noting that despite Grok having a million reviews with a 4.9-star average, Apple refuses to feature it on any App Store lists. He had previously threatened legal action earlier this month, asserting that Apple’s behavior “makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store.” This case highlights the growing tensions in the AI industry, where OpenAI’s ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history after its late 2022 launch.
Antitrust legal experts not involved in the case suggest that Apple’s dominant position in the smartphone market could strengthen xAI’s claims that the company is illegally tying its iPhone sales to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The lawsuit represents a significant escalation in Musk’s broader competition with AI frontrunners, coming less than two years after he launched xAI and acquired X for $33 billion to enhance his chatbot training capabilities. He has also integrated Grok into vehicles made by his electric car company, Tesla, as he seeks to compete with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and other rivals like China’s DeepSeek.
