Elon Musk has escalated his long-running feud with Apple, accusing the tech giant of deliberately manipulating its App Store rankings to disadvantage his artificial intelligence ventures.
The billionaire entrepreneur said on Monday night that his AI company, xAI, would “take immediate legal action” against Apple for allegedly sidelining both the X social platform and its Grok chatbot in favor of rival AI apps.
In a series of posts on X, Musk accused Apple of “playing politics” by refusing to list either X or Grok in the App Store’s “Must Have” recommendations, despite what he claimed were their global popularity.
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“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,” Musk wrote. He followed with a pointed challenge: “Why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?”
Musk provided no evidence to substantiate his accusations, and it remains unclear whether any lawsuit has actually been filed. However, in response to a report about his legal threats, Musk doubled down: “Unfortunately, what choice do we have? Apple didn’t just put their thumb on the scale, they put their whole body!”
As of Tuesday, Apple’s U.S. App Store ranked OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the top free iPhone app, with Grok in sixth place. Notably, in January, China’s DeepSeek AI briefly overtook ChatGPT for the top spot—an episode that undercuts Musk’s claim that Apple’s ranking system makes it “impossible” for other AI apps to succeed.
OpenAI–Apple Integration Underpins Musk’s Frustration
At the heart of Musk’s complaint is Apple’s high-profile partnership with OpenAI. Launched at WWDC 2024, the collaboration enabled seamless integration of ChatGPT into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS experiences under the brand Apple Intelligence. This suite leverages OpenAI’s GPT-4o model across Siri, Writing Tools, and generative features like Visual Intelligence and Genmoji, delivering AI-powered assistance directly within Apple’s ecosystem.
The feature was lauded as a seamless way to bring generative AI to a broad audience, but to Musk, it represents a clear circumvention of xAI’s offerings.
Musk’s frustration is amplified by OpenAI’s soaring visibility—ChatGPT is pre-integrated into Apple’s UI, benefiting from prime positioning and default access. It’s a classic distribution advantage: millions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac users can now tap ChatGPT features without switching apps or even knowing they’re using it.
The clash comes against a backdrop of mounting regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s App Store practices. Antitrust watchdogs in the U.S., EU, and other jurisdictions have long accused Apple of favoring its own products or preferred partners, leading to several ongoing legal battles.
Last year, following the announcement that ChatGPT would be integrated into iPhones, iPads, and Macs, Musk threatened to ban Apple devices at all his companies if OpenAI’s technology was “fused” with Apple’s operating systems.
The dispute is also colored by Musk’s personal history with OpenAI. A co-founder of the AI startup in 2015, Musk later split from the organization, citing disagreements over its direction. Since then, he has repeatedly attacked OpenAI for abandoning its original nonprofit mission, even attempting a $97.4 billion buyout that was unanimously rejected. He has also targeted the company through multiple lawsuits, claiming its partnership with Microsoft and commercial focus violate its founding principles.
Critics were quick to note the irony of Musk accusing Apple of algorithmic bias. Since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, now renamed X, Musk has faced allegations of meddling with the platform’s ranking systems to boost his own posts. A 2024 research study suggested X’s algorithm had been modified to amplify Musk’s account disproportionately. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a pointed response to Musk’s latest claims, shared a 2023 Platformer report that detailed a system Musk allegedly had built to promote his posts to all X users.
Questions have also been raised about Grok’s own impartiality. In June, investigations found that the “maximally truth-seeking” chatbot frequently deferred to Musk’s personal opinions when answering sensitive questions on subjects like the Israel–Palestine conflict, U.S. immigration policy, and abortion rights.
The unfolding battle adds another front to Musk’s increasingly public conflicts with both Apple and OpenAI, while also highlighting the growing competitive tensions in the AI sector.