Billionaire Elon Musk has said his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, will initiate legal action against Apple, accusing the technology giant of breaching antitrust rules through the way it manages App Store rankings.
“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,” Musk posted on his social media platform X on Monday.
Musk offered no evidence to back his claim. Apple, OpenAI and xAI did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
According to App Store data, OpenAI’s ChatGPT is currently the top-ranked free app for iPhones in the US, while xAI’s Grok sits in fifth place and Google’s Gemini chatbot ranks 57th. ChatGPT also holds the top spot on the Google Play Store, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower.
Apple has an existing partnership with OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads and Macs.
In an earlier post on Monday, Musk directly addressed Apple, writing: “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?”
Musk’s comments come amid heightened regulatory and industry scrutiny of Apple’s App Store practices.
In April, a US judge ruled that Apple had violated a court order requiring it to allow more competition in its App Store and referred the company to federal prosecutors for a criminal contempt investigation in a case brought by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.
That same month, the European Union’s antitrust regulator fined Apple €500 million ($587 million), accusing it of using technical and commercial restrictions to block app developers from directing users to cheaper offers outside the App Store, in breach of the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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