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Elon Musk’s xAI has sued Apple and OpenAI alleging they broke antitrust rules by thwarting competition in artificial intelligence, opening a new front in the billionaire’s feud with the two companies.
Apple struck a deal with OpenAI last year to integrate ChatGPT into its Siri voice assistant and writing and camera features, as the tech giant made a big push into AI on its smart devices.
“As a result of the Apple-OpenAI deal, ChatGPT is not just the default — it is the only generative AI chatbot with a first-party integration into Apple’s smartphones,” Musk’s companies xAI and X said in a lawsuit filed in US federal court on Monday. OpenAI, it said, had been given “exclusive access to billions of potential prompts”.
The blockbuster lawsuit deepens one of Silicon Valley’s bitterest feuds, between Musk and his former ally Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive. It also drags the Cupertino tech group into the rival billionaires’ protracted court battle.
The “unlawful agreement” denies rival chatbots the same reach and access to users, the lawsuit alleges. It also claims that Apple failed to innovate in the AI sector, noting the faltering rollout of its Apple Intelligence system.
The lawsuit also alleges that Apple has manipulated its App Store rankings and delayed app updates to disadvantage xAI-developed Grok.
Apple previously said that it planned to integrate its software with other AI chatbots, but no further partnerships have been announced since it rolled out ChatGPT integration in December. It has held discussions with Google to integrate Gemini.
An OpenAI spokesperson said: “This latest filing is consistent with Mr Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.” The lawsuit also accuses OpenAI of holding a monopoly in the AI chatbot market.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When Musk announced earlier this month that he would sue the company, it said its App Store was “designed to be fair and free of bias”.
Monday’s suit accuses Apple of seeking to protect a smartphone monopoly by inhibiting the development of AI-powered “super apps”, which pose a threat to the traditional suite of apps from which the tech group generates revenue.
xAI’s suit consciously echoes allegations in a lawsuit that the US justice department filed against Apple last year alleging that the iPhone maker had quashed the development of such apps because they threatened its high-margin services business.
When the Apple-OpenAI deal was announced in June 2024, Musk claimed the tie-up amounted to an “unacceptable security violation” that would give OpenAI access to iPhone user data. He said he would ban the devices at his companies.
Musk’s attack on Apple escalates the hostilities that have bubbled up between him and the iPhone maker. When Musk bought Twitter in November 2022, he accused Apple of threatening to remove the app from its App Store. He has also slammed Apple’s 30 per cent commission on digital purchases via the store.
The feud was quickly quashed when Musk met Apple boss Tim Cook to resolve the “misunderstanding”. In November 2023 hostilities broke out again when Apple was one of several advertisers that withdrew its ads from X. It has since resumed advertising on the platform.
The suit also marks Musk’s latest salvo against OpenAI, a company he helped launch in 2015, before leaving the board in 2018 after a clash with Altman. Musk, who launched his own AI start-up xAI in 2023 and merged it with social media platform X earlier this year, is also suing the ChatGPT parent in California, alleging that its pursuit of profits constitutes a breach of contract.
The billionaire launched a bid to buy OpenAI’s core assets earlier this year, which was rebuffed. Musk tried to draw Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg into that bid, a court filing last week revealed.
Earlier this month Musk branded Altman a “liar” for suggesting he manipulated X to promote his own posts. Altman’s post had “far more [views] than I’ve received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!” Musk responded.
Monday’s suit alleges that OpenAI and Apple “have also used X’s platform to spread disinformation about their anti-competitive scheme”.