Elon Musk issues severe threat to Apple as ChatGPT CEO launches scathing allegation against Tesla boss
Elon Musk has threatened to take 'immediate legal action' against Apple, accusing the tech giant of antitrust violations over how AI apps are ranked in the App Store.
The billionaire claims Apple is favoring OpenAI’s ChatGPT, making it almost impossible for other competitors - including his AI platform Grok from xAI, and his social media platform X - to reach the top rankings.
If you've been on the internet at all in the past few years, it's likely you've given either ChatGPT, Grok - or both - a go.
Musk founded his AI company in March 2023 before unveiling Grok - based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name - to X users that November.
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Its most recent and powerful version, Grok 4, was released this July. The bot previously made headlines for its medical advice as well as its controversial NSFW side - which appears to have been revamped with the AI's latest update.
But Musk isn't happy that he's missing out on a slice of Apple's AI pie, with Sam Altman's ChatGPT ranking above Grok in the App Store.
Taking to X - formerly Twitter before Musk took it over in a $44 billion deal in 2022 - he claimed: "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."
In another post, Musk wrote: "Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either 𝕏 or Grok in your “Must Have” section when 𝕏 is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps? Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know."
He followed up: "And why is ChatGPT literally in every list where you have editorial control?"
Musk hasn't provided any evidence for his claims. However, X users added additional context to his first tweet, stating that both AI apps, Deepseek and Perplexity, had overtaken ChatGPT on the App Store.
They further point out that this happened after Apple partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into their products in 2024, according to CNN.
At the time of writing, ChatGPT is listed as Apple's number one free iPhone app, while Grok is sixth, behind TeaOnHer Dating Advice, Tea Dating Advice, Meta's Threads and school app ParentSquare.
Altman has since hit back at Musk, claiming on X: "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."
He then linked to a Platformer article which alleges that Musk 'created a special system' to show X users 'his tweets first.'
In a third and final tweet, Altman continued: "I hope someone will get counter-discovery on this, I and many others would love to know what's been happening.
"But OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products."
UNILAD has contacted Apple, xAI and OpenAI for comment.
Topics: Elon Musk, Apple, Technology, Business, Twitter, Artificial Intelligence
Ellie Kemp