Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk announced plans to sue Apple, accusing the tech company of antitrust violations over its App Store rankings that favor a rival AI app.
Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, claims Apple is giving preferential treatment to OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot app, preventing other AI apps like Musk’s Grok from reaching the top position in App Store charts.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2025
Notably, these claims were refuted in a community note, with X writing that “In January 2025, DeepSeek reached #1 overall on the App Store.”
“Just one month ago, on July 18, 2025, Perplexity also reached #1 overall in India’s App Store,” continued the community note.
“Both of these occurred after the OpenAI–Apple partnership announced on June 10, 2024.”
At the time of writing, Grok ranks sixth among free apps on the iPhone App Store in the United States, while ChatGPT holds the number one spot.
Musk has also criticized Apple’s refusal to feature his social media platform X or the Grok app in the App Store’s “Must Have” section despite its popularity.
Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either 𝕏 or Grok in your “Must Have” section when 𝕏 is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?
Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know. https://t.co/3wenLZGtwG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2025
Apple has not responded to Musk’s allegations or legal threat.
The company maintains a partnership with OpenAI, integrating ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
This decision to implement OpenAI into products has also prompted backlash from Musk, with the billionaire writing in another post that Apple is the “gateway to the Internet for half of America.”
Apple is the gateway to the Internet for half of America. They are making it impossible for any other AI company to succeed by relentlessly promoting OpenAI in every way possible! https://t.co/p6WdOLuzO5
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2025
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to one of Musk’s posts to criticize the billionaire, claiming that Musk also messes with the X algorithm for his own benefit.
This is 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 and people he doesn't like. https://t.co/HlgzO4c2iC
— Sam Altman (@sama) August 12, 2025
Musk and Altman’s rivalry has evolved over the past few years from a partnership to a public feud that now intensifies amid a legal battle and competition in artificial intelligence.
Once partners who founded OpenAI with a goal to promote AI for the public good, their relationship soured after Musk left the board in 2018 following disagreements over company direction and control.
Musk has repeatedly accused Altman and OpenAI of straying from their original non-profit mission, criticizing the shift to a for-profit model and accusing them of breaching antitrust laws.
These allegations boiled over when Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in 2024, claiming that the company “intentionally courted and deceived Musk, preying on Musk’s humanitarian concern about the existential dangers posed by artificial intelligence,” according to the Associated Press.
Now, it seems the two are destined to once again meet in the courts following the most recent lawsuit threats by Musk.