Elon Musk has accused Apple of anti-competitive conduct, claiming the iPhone maker is unfairly favouring OpenAI’s ChatGPT over rival artificial intelligence apps in its App Store rankings.
The billionaire said on Monday that his AI startup, xAI, would take “immediate legal action” against Apple, alleging the company’s practices amounted to “an unequivocal antitrust violation”.
“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach No 1 in the App Store,” Musk wrote on X, his social media platform. He also criticised Apple for not featuring either X or xAI’s chatbot Grok in its “Must Have” section, despite their popularity.
Musk offered no evidence to support the claims, and neither Apple, OpenAI nor xAI responded to Reuters’ requests for comment. ChatGPT is currently the top free app on Apple’s US App Store, with Grok ranked fifth and Google’s Gemini chatbot far lower at 57th, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
Apple has a partnership with OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads and Macs, a move announced in June. The arrangement has fuelled questions from rivals about whether Apple’s commercial interests influence its app store recommendations.
The fresh dispute comes as Apple faces heightened regulatory scrutiny over its control of the App Store. In April, a US judge found the company had breached a court order designed to promote competition, referring it to federal prosecutors for a potential criminal contempt probe. That same month, the EU fined Apple €500m (£421m) for restricting developers from steering users to cheaper deals outside the App Store, in violation of the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
Musk’s legal threat adds to the mounting pressure on Apple as global regulators test the limits of its tightly controlled digital marketplace.
