Elon Musk has accused Apple Inc. of giving preferential treatment to OpenAI on its App Store, alleging that the iPhone maker’s ranking system makes it “impossible” for other developers, including his own AI venture, xAI Holdings, to reach the top spot.
The billionaire, who owns the X social network and the Grok AI chatbot, claimed in a post on Tuesday that Apple’s practices amount to “playing politics.”
“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,” Musk posted.
App Store rankings
His remarks come amid growing scrutiny of Big Tech app store dominance and its influence over global app discovery.
In the U.S. App Store rankings, OpenAI’s ChatGPT app currently holds the No. 1 spot among free iPhone apps, while Grok sits at No. 5.
The dispute adds another chapter to Musk’s long-running feud with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which began after the two co-founded the company but parted ways over strategic differences.
Altman dismissed Musk’s allegations, instead pointing to Musk’s own management of X, suggesting he manipulates the platform for personal gain. “OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products,” Altman wrote.
“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,” Altman wrote in a direct response to Muk’s post.
What you should know
Apple at its 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June said it was deepening its relationship with OpenAI while also rolling out new artificial intelligence capabilities.
- The rollout is happening as Apple is facing increased investor discontent over the long-awaited AI updates to its Siri voice assistant.
- Among the new offerings from the event include live translation capabilities added to the company’s Messages, Phone, and FaceTime apps, making it easier to have conversations when traveling abroad or talking with someone who speaks another language.
- Beginning with iOS 26, Apple’s visual intelligence feature will be able to analyze images and text on an iPhone’s screen.
- Users can also ask ChatGPT for more info about what they’re looking at, and search Google for similar images or products.
The clash with Apple and OpenAI marks Musk’s most high-profile confrontation since his public spat with former U.S. President Donald Trump in June.
