Apple and OpenAI are pushing back against billionaire Elon Musk’s antitrust lawsuit, telling a U.S. judge on Tuesday that their partnership is not “exclusive” and does not harm competition.
Both companies asked the court to dismiss the case, which was filed in August by Musk’s AI venture, xAI, according to Reuters.
Musk’s company is seeking billions of dollars in damages, arguing that Apple’s deal with OpenAI unfairly sidelines competitors. According to the complaint, Apple has “no reason to more prominently feature” the X app or xAI’s Grok chatbot in its App Store because of what Musk called an “exclusive” arrangement with OpenAI.
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The Apple–OpenAI Deal
The disputed agreement was first announced in June 2024, when Apple revealed that ChatGPT would be integrated into its iOS, iPadOS, and macOS operating systems. The move was widely seen as Apple’s most significant push into generative AI, giving users direct access to ChatGPT within native features on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Musk, who owns both X (formerly Twitter) and xAI, claimed the deal effectively locked up distribution channels for consumer-facing chatbots. His lawsuit accused Apple and OpenAI of having “locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing.”
Apple and OpenAI Push Back
Apple’s lawyers rejected Musk’s characterization of the deal. “Apple and OpenAI’s agreement is expressly not exclusive, and it is public and widely known that Apple intends to partner with other generative AI chatbots,” they told the court.
In a separate filing, OpenAI accused Musk of engaging in what it called “a campaign of lawfare” against the company and its flagship product. The filing noted that Musk had already launched other legal actions targeting OpenAI, including a separate case in federal court in California challenging its transformation from a nonprofit into a for-profit entity.
“Musk’s xAI has not alleged any non-speculative harm rising directly out of ChatGPT’s integration as an option for certain features on certain iPhones — and certainly not the species of unlawful, anticompetitive harm targeted by antitrust law,” OpenAI’s lawyers wrote.
Musk’s Broader Legal Offensive
The lawsuit is part of a widening legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, the company he cofounded with Sam Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit. Musk left the organization in 2018 amid disagreements about its direction, and has since become one of its fiercest critics. Last year, he sued OpenAI and Altman in California, seeking to block what he described as the improper conversion of the company into a profit-driven enterprise.
Through xAI, Musk has positioned Grok as a rival chatbot to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but he has argued that the Apple–OpenAI deal has tilted the playing field by giving ChatGPT direct exposure to hundreds of millions of Apple device users.
At the heart of the dispute is how the integration of AI tools into consumer devices could shape competition. Apple has signaled that ChatGPT is just one of several partnerships it plans, but Musk’s complaint underscores fears that early deals between Big Tech firms and leading AI developers could entrench incumbents before rivals like xAI can scale.
The court’s decision could determine how freely Apple can strike future deals to weave AI tools into its ecosystem. However, Musk is believed to see the deal as existential to his AI ambition. His concern is whether Grok and xAI can carve out meaningful distribution and compete against ChatGPT in a market increasingly shaped by platform access.