A hot potato: Elon Musk and Sam Altman have had a long-running feud on X, trading jabs over some of the dumbest tweets. Now, the fight has moved into the courtroom. Musk is suing Apple and OpenAI over exclusive ChatGPT access, framing the case as a threat to competition and his vision for X as a super app.
Two weeks after threatening legal action over alleged App Store manipulation, Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, alleging their exclusive ChatGPT integration violates antitrust laws. The filing indicates Musk's concerns extend beyond App Store rankings, reflecting his broader plan to turn X into an "everything app" capable of challenging Apple's smartphone dominance.
The lawsuit claims that Apple and OpenAI conspired to block competition in the artificial intelligence market while safeguarding Apple's alleged smartphone monopoly. The partnership gives OpenAI exclusive access to billions of user prompts through Siri and other iPhone features, providing valuable training data that competitors like Musk's Grok cannot reach.
"In a desperate bid to protect its smartphone monopoly, Apple has joined forces with the company that most benefits from inhibiting competition and innovation in AI: OpenAI, a monopolist in the market for generative AI chatbots," xAI's filing reads.
The complaint targets the financial structure of the Apple-OpenAI deal, noting that OpenAI provides ChatGPT integration for free while Apple expects no immediate profits. Musk's legal team argues this arrangement proves the partnership's true purpose is to stifle competition rather than generate revenue for either company.
Central to Musk's allegations is his claim that Apple fears artificial intelligence-powered "super apps" could make smartphones obsolete. The lawsuit quotes Apple executive Eddy Cue expressing concerns that AI might destroy Apple's smartphone business, referencing patterns observed in markets where super apps like WeChat dominate.
"Apple's conduct inhibits the growth of AI and super apps by allowing OpenAI to maintain its monopoly and curtail innovation and investment in generative AI chatbots that would develop into super apps that replace iPhone functionality," the lawsuit claims.
The filing also accuses Apple of deliberately hampering Grok's App Store presence by rejecting feature requests, delaying app updates, and refusing to include the chatbot in promotional sections. These actions allegedly prevent fair competition while ChatGPT maintains its position as the store's top free app and sole artificial intelligence chatbot in Apple's "Must-Have Apps" section.
OpenAI dismissed the lawsuit as harassment, with a spokesperson telling Ars Technica the filing represents Musk's "ongoing pattern of harassment" against the company. The response likely references OpenAI's previous allegations that Musk has conducted a "years-long harassment campaign" motivated by his desire to clear the field for xAI's dominance.
Musk's companies are seeking billions in damages and a permanent injunction blocking the Apple-OpenAI partnership. The lawsuit warns that without intervention, the exclusive arrangement could doom X's transformation into a super app, potentially making the entire enterprise less valuable to investors and users alike.
Musk makes good on his threat to sue Apple and OpenAI over antitrust collusion
