Elon Musk’s xAI sues Apple and OpenAI over alleged App Store bias

Apple App Store

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing the two firms of colluding to block competition in the fast-growing generative AI market. The case was filed in a Texas court on Monday, escalating Musk’s public feud with Apple.

Earlier this month, Musk accused Apple of “rigging” App Store rankings to favour OpenAI and warned he would take legal action. The lawsuit alleges that Apple’s exclusive arrangement with OpenAI has made ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot integrated into the iPhone, effectively forcing users to rely on it even if they prefer alternatives such as xAI’s Grok.

"As a result of Apple and OpenAI’s exclusive arrangement, ChatGPT is the only generative AI chatbot that benefits from billions of user prompts originating from hundreds of millions of iPhones. This makes it hard for competitors of ChatGPT’s generative AI chatbot and super apps powered by generative AI chatbots to scale and innovate," the lawsuit notes.

According to the filing, this integration ensures ChatGPT benefits from “billions of user prompts” generated by iPhone owners, creating an unfair barrier for rivals hoping to scale their platforms. The suit also claims Apple has slowed the approval process for competing apps and deprioritised them in App Store rankings.

Apple has previously rejected Musk’s accusations, saying its App Store “is designed to be fair and free of bias” and that it regularly promotes a wide range of applications through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and expert curation. The company also pointed out that other AI products have topped the App Store — including DeepSeek, which reached number one in January.

Since announcing its partnership with OpenAI in June 2024, Apple has hinted at plans to integrate additional AI models into Siri. At its developer conferences, the company has said it is exploring options such as Google Gemini and Anthropic, though no specific timelines have been provided.

Apple has not yet commented on the lawsuit itself.