Elon Musk sues Apple and OpenAI, acuses of blocking contest

Elon Musk

Elon Musk has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of colluding to block competition in artificial intelligence.

The 61-page complaint, filed in Texas federal court by Musk’s companies xAI and X Corp., follows his earlier claims that Apple unfairly boosted OpenAI’s ChatGPT in iPhone app store rankings while pushing down rivals like his own Grok chatbot. Musk is seeking damages and a court order to stop what he calls illegal tactics.

The lawsuit describes Apple and OpenAI as “two monopolists” working together to protect their dominance during a major AI revolution. It claims Apple sees AI as a threat to the iPhone’s success and struck a deal with OpenAI to give ChatGPT an unfair advantage.

Musk has previously accused OpenAI of betraying its nonprofit mission and prioritizing profit over safety. OpenAI dismissed the new lawsuit as part of Musk’s “ongoing pattern of harassment.” Apple has not yet commented.

At the center of the case is Apple’s decision to use ChatGPT as the iPhone’s AI-powered “answer engine,” which Musk says gives OpenAI exclusive access to valuable user data while sidelining competitors like Grok, DeekSeek, and Perplexity.

The filing also notes that former Apple designer Jony Ive has joined OpenAI to develop a new AI-powered device that analysts believe could one day rival the iPhone.  Agency via UNB