Tech billionaire, Elon Musk, has accused Apple Inc. of favouring OpenAI’s ChatGPT in its App Store. The X owner is therefore threatening to take legal action against the iPhone maker’s breach of antitrust policy of fair competition.
In a late Monday evening outburst on X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, who has also been pushing Grok AI, said Apple makes it impossible for anyone other than OpenAI to reach the top of the 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,” the billionaire said.
According to reports, despite Grok offering a far better service and possessing high ratings on the App Store, ChatGPT is placed at a one-tap install and ranks high in downloads.
“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…Are you playing politics? What gives? And why is ChatGPT literally in every list where you have editorial control?” Elon Musk said in a Tuesday X post, noting that the practices appear to favour OpenAI, while hindering competitors like xAI’s Grok.
In response, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, noted that the claim comes amid reports that Elon Musk manipulates X to benefit himself and his companies. He added that the billionaire uses the social media platform to harm his competitors for personal interest.
“I hope someone will get counter-discovery on this, I and many others would love to know what’s been happening. But OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products,” he added in an X post during the early hours of Tuesday.
In April, a federal judge in California ruled the iPhone maker had violated a court order to reform its App Store for greater competition in app downloads and payment methods. In the same period, the European Commission fined Apple $570 million for breaching a digital competition law.
The development is the latest feud between the two tech founders who were once co-founders of OpenAI. With a long history of an ill-fated relationship, both have been in a long rift over OpenAI’s for-profit policy.
Read More: U.S. court rejects Elon Musk’s OpenAI “for-profit” prevention lawsuit.
Apple and OpenAI, whose ChatGPT is the most-downloaded free iPhone app in the US, ahead of Grok at No. 5, already have a partnership around AI built into the latest iPhones.
Apple and ChatGPT’s partnership
Apple and OpenAI formed a strategic partnership in June 2024 by integrating OpenAI’s technology, particularly ChatGPT, into Apple’s ecosystem. This was primarily to enhance Siri’s capabilities and introduce “Apple Intelligence” features.
The collaboration allows Apple to leverage OpenAI’s AI advancements, while OpenAI gains broader exposure and potential revenue through Apple’s massive user base. The move enabled Apple users to create their own emojis based on language prompts and generate summaries of emails in the mailbox via the tech giant’s in-house technology.
Apple noted that Apple Intelligence puts AI models right at the core of users’ iPhones, iPads and Macs and protects their privacy at every step. The company also aimed to set itself apart from rivals Microsoft and Google by putting privacy at the core of AI, which is known for housing vast amounts of data.
In his reaction, Elon Musk claimed that Apple could not account for user data once it was shared with OpenAI, with claims that it’s an unacceptable security violation.
“And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage,” Musk said last year.
For Apple, the move was its response to show that it is keeping pace with rivals like Microsoft and Google in the race to the top of the artificial intelligence market.
Despite several backlashes, Apple deepened its relationship with OpenAI at its 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 9
Beginning with iOS 26, Apple’s visual intelligence feature will be able to analyse images and text on an iPhone’s screen. Users can also ask ChatGPT for more info about what they’re looking at, and search Google for similar images or products.
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