Musk takes fight with OpenAI to Apple over its app store
Musk called Apple's App Store rankings an 'unequivocal antitrust violation" in a post on his social-media platform X Monday night and threatened 'immediate legal action."
'Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store," he said in the post.
The App Store, which features lists of top and trending apps, is a key way for apps to access new customers. Apple doesn't say much about how and why it chooses particular apps to feature. Among the factors it considers are usability and positive ratings and reviews.
Representatives for Apple, OpenAI and Grok parent xAI didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Musk's posts are the latest related to his long-running dispute with OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. His relationship with OpenAI has soured since he helped found the company in 2015. He sued the ChatGPT maker last year, alleging at the time it had abandoned its founding principles by attempting to convert to a for-profit company. He later withdrew and refiled the suit several times with new allegations. OpenAI has disputed his claims and said he is motivated by being a competitor.
Musk's remarks may not lead to a lawsuit. He has issued past threats on X and elsewhere but hasn't always followed through.
Apple and OpenAI last year announced a deal to integrate ChatGPT into Apple products for functions such as writing messages and answering difficult questions. After the announcement, Musk threatened on X to bar Apple devices from his companies.
Musk issued his latest threat on behalf of xAI, which owns Grok.
'Why are the Grok and the X app excluded from every list, except those measuring raw downloads, but ChatGPT is on every list? This is messed up!" Musk wrote in another post Tuesday morning.
Altman responded on X on Tuesday, saying: '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."
On Tuesday morning, Apple prominently featured a link to ChatGPT, promoting its new GPT-5 model, at the top of its 'Apps" section. It also included OpenAI's model in its 'Must-Have Apps" list and second in its 'Popular Apps" list. Grok is only ranked on the 'Top Free Apps" list, where it is No. 5 and ChatGPT is No. 1.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, a rival chatbot to ChatGPT and Grok, achieved the top ranking on Apple's App Store in January.
The Justice Department last year accused Apple of monopolizing the smartphone market in a landmark antitrust suit. One of the claims in the lawsuit is that Apple's App Store policies create barriers to entry for developers and hinder innovation.
Other developers have sued Apple to force changes in the App Store, in particular the high fees it charges for apps and services sold there. Earlier this year, a California judge ruled that Apple must allow app developers to sell their iPhone apps from their own websites.
Apple is also facing other threats to the App Store, including international regulations that threaten to reduce the fees it can charge app developers.
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