By Atoyebi Nike
Elon Musk, owner of X and creator of the Grok AI chatbot, has accused Apple of antitrust violations, alleging its App Store ranking system unfairly favors OpenAI’s ChatGPT over competing AI products.
In a post on X Tuesday, Musk said Apple’s practices make it “impossible” for any AI company other than OpenAI to reach the No. 1 spot in the iPhone maker’s app store. “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,” he wrote.
The remarks come amid increased scrutiny of Big Tech’s control over app marketplaces. In the U.S. App Store, ChatGPT currently ranks No. 1 among free iPhone apps, while Musk’s Grok sits at No. 5.
Musk’s criticism also revives his long-running feud with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, a relationship that soured after the two co-founded the company and later split over strategic differences. Altman dismissed Musk’s claims, responding on X: “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. OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products.”
The dispute follows Apple’s June 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, where the company announced deeper integration with OpenAI and unveiled new AI capabilities.
Musk’s latest clash with Apple and OpenAI comes weeks after a public spat with U.S. President Donald Trump in June.
