Elon Musk has accused Apple of breaching antitrust regulations, claiming the company’s App Store practices unfairly prevent artificial intelligence rivals from reaching top rankings. Speaking on Monday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said his AI startup xAI would take legal action against the tech giant, alleging it gives preferential treatment to OpenAI.
Musk posted on his social media platform X 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.”
He did not provide evidence to support the claim. Apple, OpenAI, and xAI have yet to comment on the matter.
xAI’s Grok Ranks Below ChatGPT
Currently, ChatGPT holds the top spot in the App Store’s “Top Free Apps” section in the United States, while xAI’s Grok ranks fifth and Google’s Gemini chatbot sits at 57th, according to Sensor Tower data. Musk also criticized Apple for not listing X or Grok in its “Must Have” section despite their popularity, questioning whether politics influenced the decision.
Apple has a partnership with OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs. ChatGPT also leads the rankings on the Google Play Store.
Regulators Increase Scrutiny on Apple
Musk’s accusations come as Apple faces mounting regulatory pressure. In April, a U.S. judge ruled that Apple violated a court order aimed at promoting competition in the App Store, referring the company to federal prosecutors in a case brought by Epic Games. That same month, the European Union fined Apple 500 million euros ($587 million) for restricting developers from directing users to cheaper deals outside its platform, a breach of the Digital Markets Act.
The Elon Musk Apple antitrust dispute is expected to intensify as legal action from xAI moves forward.