Musk says xAI to take legal action against Apple over App Store rankings
(REUTERS)Billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday his artificial intelligence startup xAI would take legal action against Apple, accusing the iPhone maker of breaching antitrust regulations in managing App Store rankings."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 said in a post on his social media platform X.Apple has a partnership with OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads and Macs.Musk did not provide evidence to support his claim. Apple, OpenAI, and xAI did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.OpenAI's ChatGPT currently holds the top spot in the App Store's "Top Free Apps" section in the United States, while xAI's Grok ranks fifth.Users on X - through the community notes feature - have pointed out that a few apps besides OpenAI have taken the top spot on the App Store this year.Chinese AI app DeepSeek reached the No.1 spot on the platform in January, while in July, Perplexity took first place in India's App Store - both occurring after the OpenAI and Apple partnership struck last year.Musk's comments come as regulators and rivals intensify scrutiny of Apple's control over its App Store.
Earlier this year, Apple was ordered to pay a fine of 500 million euros ($581.15 million) by the EU antitrust enforcer, which said the company's restrictions prevented developers from steering users outside the App Store.
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