Elon Musk has threatened legal action against Apple, accusing the company of antitrust violations over the App Store rankings of his artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok.
In a post on his social media platform X, Musk alleged that Apple’s practices make it “impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store,” calling it an “unequivocal antitrust violation” and stating that his startup, xAI, would take immediate legal action. He also questioned why Apple refused to feature either X or Grok in its “Must-Have” section, noting their high rankings.
The threat follows Apple’s partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT technology into its iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Musk previously called such an integration an “unacceptable security violation” and threatened to ban Apple devices from his companies.
Prior to his legal threats, Musk had celebrated Grok surpassing Google to become the fifth top free app on the App Store. As of Monday, OpenAI’s ChatGPT was ranked number one among free apps and was the only AI chatbot in Apple’s “Must-Have Apps” section.
This conflict adds to Musk’s ongoing feud with OpenAI, a company he co-founded in 2015 but left in 2018. He is currently suing the Microsoft-backed startup and its CEO, Sam Altman, claiming they abandoned OpenAI’s founding mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity. The threat against Apple also comes a week after the head of xAI’s legal department announced his departure from the company, acknowledging a difference in “worldviews” with Musk.
Responding to the allegations on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it 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.”
Apple is already facing significant antitrust challenges. The Department of Justice filed a landmark lawsuit against the company in March, alleging it operates an illegal iPhone monopoly. In June, a court also denied Apple’s attempt to halt a ruling that prevents it from blocking developers from including external payment links in their apps.
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