Musk sues OpenAI and Apple for favoring the ChatGPT app on iPhones.
Elon Musk is accusing Apple and OpenAI in a lawsuit of unfairly favoring the artificial intelligence company in the iPhone market and hindering competition from other chatbot makers. Musk's x and xAI filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, arguing that Apple's decision to integrate OpenAI into the iPhone operating system harms competition and deprives consumers of choice.
Musk claims Apple is preventing anyone other than OpenAI's ChatGPT from reaching the top of the App Store charts , a coveted global hub for app developers. The case sets up a significant legal battle between the richest person on the planet and one of the world's most valuable companies.
Apple and OpenAI, whose ChatGPT service is the most downloaded free iPhone app in the US, are collaborating on the AI built into the latest iPhones. Musk, 54, has a long-standing dispute with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, dating back to disagreements that led to their split after the two founded OpenAI together.
Apple's exclusive agreement with OpenAI has made ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot built into the iPhone , lawyers for Musk's companies said in the lawsuit, and has locked down markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent competition from innovators like X and xAI.
Apple has clashed with regulators around the world in recent years over allegations that its app store has illegally suppressed competition in the smartphone app market. The iPhone maker has also been locked in a five-year legal battle with Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, over the App Store's dominance in the smartphone software market.
The lawsuit follows an August 11 post by Musk on X, in which he asked if Apple was "playing politics" by not highlighting its products. Apple responded in a statement that the App Store "is designed to be fair and free from bias."
Altman responded to Musk's post on X by focusing attention on how Musk manages the X network, suggesting that he manipulates it to further his personal interests.
This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like. https://t.co/HlgzO4c2iC
— Sam Altman (@sama) August 12, 2025
eleconomista
