Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has launched a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, claiming the two tech giants are colluding to block fair competition in the fast-growing AI market.
According to the filing, Apple allegedly used its App Store policies to restrict distribution of xAI’s Grok chatbot, both as a stand-alone application and as an integrated feature of Musk’s social media platform X. The suit argues that this was done in favor of OpenAI, with which Apple has partnered on AI technology. xAI is seeking billions of dollars in damages.
The complaint states that Apple and OpenAI are working together to maintain monopolies and prevent innovative rivals such as xAI and X from expanding. Musk merged xAI with his social media company earlier this year, consolidating efforts to push forward his AI vision.
This is not Musk’s first legal battle with OpenAI. The billionaire has already been challenging the company’s restructuring from a nonprofit model toward a commercial one. Although OpenAI recently reformulated its structure to maintain nonprofit status while granting greater independence to its commercial branch, Musk has continued his legal campaign.
Musk, who was one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, has become increasingly critical of its shift toward profit-making, especially as the company’s ChatGPT gained global dominance in the AI chatbot sector.
Apple and OpenAI announced their collaboration in June as Apple looked to catch up with rivals in artificial intelligence development. However, Apple has stated that the partnership is not exclusive, with talks ongoing about potentially incorporating other AI systems, including those developed by Google.
Despite the lawsuit, ChatGPT remains the most popular AI chatbot application worldwide, with more than a billion downloads across mobile platforms. By comparison, Grok has reached an estimated 62 million downloads. Grok briefly hit the top of app charts earlier this year, but its momentum has been inconsistent.
xAI also faced challenges last month when Grok generated antisemitic content on X. The company paused some of the chatbot’s functions and said the issue was resolved.
The case marks another escalation in Musk’s growing legal battles within the AI industry, highlighting the fierce competition over control of the emerging chatbot market.
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