Elon Musk's xAI is suing Apple for allegedly giving other AI apps the upper hand
It's not the first time Musk's sued someone regarding AI
🧑⚖️ Elon Musk's xAI is suing Apple for allegedly platforming other AI apps in App Store rankings over his own, such as ChatGPT
😡 He stated in a series of X posts that by "playing politics", he had been given no choice but to sue
🤔 It is, however, unclear as to the source of his evidence, or if a lawsuit has even been filed
🥊 Musk has previously had issues with OpenAI and Apple, threatening to ban Apple devices at his company last year because of a partnership between the two firms
Elon Musk has announced that his artificial intelligence company, xAI, is proceeding to sue Apple over the App Store giving other AI apps better rankings.
Musk stated on X that xAI would take "immediate legal action", and suggested Apple was “playing politics” by allegedly manipulating App Store rankings in favour of rival AI apps. In the end, the South African billionaire said he had no choice but to sue.
Musk argued that "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".
In an X post pinned to his profile at the time of writing, Musk questioned Apple. "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?" he said.
It’s unclear where Musk is getting his evidence from that Apple is allegedly pushing other AI apps over xAI’s, and it’s unclear if he, or xAI, have actually filed a lawsuit against Apple just yet.
A familiar situation for Musk
As The Verge noted, ChatGPT is Apple's top free iPhone app in the US on the App Store, with X's Grok AI in sixth. DeepSeek had taken the top position from ChatGPT in January, which The Verge suggests disproves Musk's claim that it is "impossible" for other AI apps to topple OpenAI's.
This isn't the first time that Musk has had both Apple and OpenAI in his crosshairs, either. He was involved early on with OpenAI, and along with a coalition of backers, offered to pay $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI out after taking issue with it moving to a profit-driven business – the bid was unanimously rejected.
Musk also threatened to ban Apple devices at his companies after OpenAI partnered with Apple to put ChatGPT on iPhone, iPad and Mac devices last year. However, the lawsuit was eventually dropped.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.