Elon Musk’s X and xAI are seeking billions in damages from Apple and OpenAI in a lawsuit filed against the two companies over stopping competition in artificial intelligence.
xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, filed the lawsuit in a US federal court in Texas on Monday.
“This is a tale of two monopolists joining forces to ensure their continued dominance in a world rapidly driven by the most powerful technology humanity has ever created: artificial intelligence,” the lawsuit said.
“Working in tandem, Defendants Apple and OpenAI have locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing. Plaintiffs bring this suit to stop Defendants from perpetrating their anticompetitive scheme and to recover billions in damages.”
xAI alleged that Apple is preventing other chatbots from ranking above ChatGPT in its App Store, thus denying rivals like its Grok of valuable user interactions, upon which the software relies to improve.
“If not for its exclusive deal with OpenAI, Apple would have no reason to refrain from more prominently featuring the Grok app in its App Store,” it added in the complaint.
On Monday, Musk posted on x: “A million reviews with 4.9 average for @Grok and still Apple refuses to mention Grok on any lists.”
After lagging in the AI race for several years, Apple integrated ChatGPT into its operating system for iPhones, iPads, and Macs following a partnership with OpenAI.
“If not for its exclusive deal with OpenAI, Apple would have no reason to refrain from more prominently featuring the X app and the Grok app in its App Store,” the lawsuit added.
While Apple did not respond to requests for comments on Monday, OpenAI said in a statement: “This latest filing is consistent with Mr. Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.”
Earlier this month, Musk had hinted at a legal action against the companies in another X post, in which he said: “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.”
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, had responded to Musk’s post and said: “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.”
OpenAI’s ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history in the months following its launch in late 2022. xAI was launched in 2023 and competes with Microsoft-backed OpenAI as well as with Chinese startup DeepSeek.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a non-profit enterprise, is also separately suing the company and Altman in California to stop its conversion from a non-profit to a for-profit business.
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