Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced that his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, plans to initiate legal action against Apple, accusing the tech giant of violating antitrust regulations through its App Store ranking practices.
Musk claims that Apple’s management of its App Store unfairly prioritizes OpenAI’s ChatGPT, hindering other AI companies, including xAI, from achieving top rankings.
This legal threat follows Apple’s partnership with OpenAI, which integrates ChatGPT into Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and Macs, potentially giving it a competitive edge in the App Store’s “Top Free Apps” section.
Musk has publicly criticized Apple’s App Store policies, particularly its failure to include xAI’s AI model, Grok, or Musk’s social media platform, X, in the “Must Have” section, despite X being the top news app globally and Grok ranking fifth among U.S. apps.
In a post on X, Musk stated, “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’s Grok echoed this sentiment, suggesting that Apple’s editorial picks favor established AI models like ChatGPT over innovative competitors, potentially stifling competition.
Neither Musk nor xAI provided evidence to substantiate these claims, and Apple, OpenAI, and xAI did not respond to requests for comment from news outlets.
Community notes on X have highlighted that other AI apps, such as DeepSeek and Perplexity, have reached the No. 1 spot in the App Store in 2025, challenging Musk’s assertion of OpenAI’s exclusive dominance.
These instances occurred after Apple’s partnership with OpenAI, suggesting that other AI companies can still achieve top rankings.
Meanwhile, Apple’s App Store practices have faced ongoing scrutiny, with the European Commission fining Apple €500 million ($570 million) in April 2025 for restricting developers from directing users to cheaper alternatives outside the App Store.
A separate U.S. federal ruling in April also found Apple in violation of a court order to reform its App Store for greater competition, stemming from a 2021 antitrust suit by Epic Games.
These developments underscore the broader regulatory and legal challenges Apple faces, which Musk’s lawsuit seeks to amplify.