Elon Musk says Apple favors OpenAI in its App Store rankings and blocks other AI companies like xAI from reaching the top spot. He calls this an “unequivocal antitrust violation” and says xAI will sue immediately. Despite their popularity, the billionaire posted on X, accusing Apple of refusing to feature his AI chatbot Grok or the X platform in the App Store’s “Must Have” section. He said this selective promotion helps OpenAI and hurts fair competition in the AI market. Musk accuses Apple of blocking AI rivals in App Store promotions In a series of posts on X,musk Musk accused Apple of using its App Store policies and promotional choices in ways that give an unfair advantage to OpenAI. He said Apple also made it extremely difficult for other artificial intelligence companies, including his firm, XAI, to reach the top spot in the store’s rankings. Apple Store’s “Must Have” section highlights selected apps to millions of iPhone users and can dramatically influence downloads and popularity, so Musk focused much of his criticism on it. He claimed that Apple has refused to include X and Grok in this premium promotional space despite X being, in his words, the number one news app globally. He added that Grok, xAI’s chatbot, ranks fifth most popular app overall across all categories and points to decisions that could be politically motivated rather than factors like user demand or performance. Musk suggested that the company’s actions go beyond standard business choices and into territory that he believes violates antitrust principles by asking Apple directly if it was “playing politics” in deciding which apps to promote. The billionaire’s allegations remained unanswered because xAI, Apple, and OpenAI hadn’t provided any public response to requests for comment from reporters at the time of his statements. The timing of Musk’s comments is essential because they come during a period when he has been increasingly aggressive in challenging what he deems unfair or monopolistic practices in the AI industry. Musk builds on past antitrust fights with new threat against Apple Musk has challenged the influence, partnerships, and control of some of the most powerful tech companies over the past few years. The AI startup leader filed a high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI , its CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft, and several other parties earlier in the year. Musk accused them of creating contracts that primarily benefited their own financial interests and harming competition by setting strict limits on which investors could provide funding. He also called out OpenAI in the lawsuit for undermining its original mission by restructuring the company from a nonprofit research organization into a for-profit company. The tech billionaire’s lawsuit claimed these actions reduced consumer choice and increased costs. It lowered the overall quality of available AI products by violating the Sherman Antitrust Act—a key U.S. law designed to protect market competition. Musk and his team detailed a long list of transactions and business decisions that showed clear conflicts of interest involving Altman in the legal filing. These included agreements with companies such as Rain AI, Humane, and Limitless, where Altman allegedly held financial stakes. The report also presented a deal involving Reddit that Musk claimed boosted the value of Altman’s personal shares by hundreds of millions of dollars. Musk argued that these actions did not prioritize the best interests of OpenAI’s mission, but instead showed how Altman was steering the business toward arrangements that brought direct benefits. If the tech billionaire follows through on his warning, a lawsuit against Apple could quickly become one of the most closely watched cases in recent years. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .
