Billionaire Elon Musk announced Monday that his AI startup xAI will take legal action against Apple, alleging the tech giant is breaching antitrust laws by managing App Store rankings in a way that favours OpenAI.
“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,” Musk posted on X.
He offered no evidence to back the claim, and Apple, OpenAI, and xAI did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Currently, ChatGPT holds the top spot in the App Store’s “Top Free Apps” for iPhones in the U.S., with xAI’s Grok ranked fifth and Google’s Gemini chatbot at 57th. ChatGPT also leads on Google Play, according to Sensor Tower.
Apple’s partnership with OpenAI integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs—a move Musk has previously criticised. Earlier Monday, he questioned why neither X nor Grok appeared in Apple’s “Must Have” section despite their high rankings, accusing the company of “playing politics.”
The dispute comes amid growing regulatory scrutiny over Apple’s App Store dominance. In April, a U.S. judge found Apple in violation of a court order in the Epic Games case, referring the company for a criminal contempt probe. That same month, the EU fined Apple €500 million ($587 million) for restricting developers from directing users to cheaper deals outside the App Store, breaching the Digital Markets Act.
