Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, along with his social platform X, has filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing the two companies of colluding to block competition in the artificial intelligence and smartphone markets.
The complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges that Apple favors OpenAI’s ChatGPT by integrating it into iPhones, iPads, and Macs, while deprioritizing rival chatbots like xAI’s Grok in App Store rankings. Musk’s companies argue that this creates an unfair monopoly.
“In a desperate bid to protect its smartphone monopoly, Apple has joined forces with OpenAI, the company that most benefits from inhibiting competition and innovation in AI,” the filing states.
Apple has not yet commented, while OpenAI dismissed the lawsuit, calling it part of Musk’s “ongoing pattern of harassment.”
The case marks the latest escalation in Musk’s rivalry with OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left in 2018 over disagreements about its direction. He has since sued OpenAI multiple times, alleging the company prioritizes profits over its mission to develop AI for humanity’s benefit.
The lawsuit follows Musk’s earlier threats to sue Apple, calling its partnership with OpenAI an “unequivocal antitrust violation.” Despite Musk’s claims, users noted that competing chatbots like DeepSeek and Perplexity have also topped App Store charts.