Elon Musk Threatens Antitrust Lawsuit Over App Store; Apple Responds to Allegations

Elon Musk has accused Apple of anticompetitive App Store practices, alleging the company unfairly favors OpenAI and makes it impossible for rivals to reach the top of its app charts. The billionaire founder of xAI said his company will take "immediate legal action" over what he called an "unequivocal antitrust violation."

In a post on his social media platform X, Musk claimed, "Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store." At the time of the post, OpenAI's ChatGPT was the most-downloaded free iPhone app in the U.S., with Musk's Grok at number five.

In a statement responding to the allegations, Apple said the App Store "is designed to be fair and free of bias." A spokesperson added, "We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria. Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories."


Apple's collaboration with OpenAI has been a central part of its recent AI strategy, with ChatGPT integrated into Siri and system-wide writing tools to handle more complex queries. However, Apple is already looking beyond its current partnership. Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently stated he hoped to see Gemini AI offered as an option on iPhones this year. Apple is also working to build out its own capabilities, having formed a secret new team to develop its own search and "answer engine."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk's claims by turning the focus to how Musk manages X, suggesting he manipulates the network for his personal interests. "But OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products," Altman added in a post on X.

Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for more updates on the situation.