Billionaire tech entrepreneur and xAI CEO, Elon Musk, has accused Apple Inc. of giving preferential treatment to OpenAI’s ChatGPT in the App Store rankings, warning that legal action against the tech giant is imminent.
In a series of posts on his social media platform X late Monday, Musk alleged that Apple was engaging in practices that unfairly disadvantage competing AI applications, including his own Grok chatbot. He claimed that such conduct amounts to “an unequivocal antitrust violation.”
“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store,” Musk wrote. “xAI will take immediate legal action.”
The dispute escalated after Musk noted that neither X, which he described as the “#1 news app in the world,” nor Grok, currently ranked fifth among all apps, appeared in Apple’s “Must Have” section. By contrast, ChatGPT remains prominently featured and continues to occupy the top spot in the “Top Free Apps” category for U.S. iPhone users. Google’s Gemini chatbot ranks 57th.
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“Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section… Are you playing politics?” Musk asked in one post, questioning the company’s criteria for app recommendations.
Apple has not yet responded publicly to Musk’s allegations. The dispute comes amid intensifying competition between major tech firms in the race for AI market dominance, with legal and regulatory scrutiny of antitrust practices growing worldwide.