‘Desperate bid’: Elon Musk’s AI start-up sues Apple and OpenAI
The billionaire’s artificial intelligence start-up has accused the tech giants of forming an illegal partnership.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence start-up xAI has sued Apple and OpenAI, accusing the tech giants of forming an illegal partnership in a “desperate bid” to stifle competition.
The billionaire’s XAI company and his social media network business X, filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Texas on Monday (US time) weeks after Mr Musk threatened to sue Apple.
In the 61-page complaint, the companies accused Apple and OpenAI of entering an exclusive deal that makes OpenAI’s ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot integrated into Apple’s iPhone operating system, while blocking rivals like xAI’s Grok.
“In a desperate bid to protect its smartphone monopoly, Apple has joined forces with the company that most benefits from inhibiting competition and innovation in AI: OpenAI, a monopolist in the market for generative AI chatbots,” the lawsuit states.
“This is a tale of two monopolists joining forces to ensure their continued dominance in a world rapidly driven by the most powerful technology humanity has ever created: artificial intelligence.”
The plaintiffs claim Apple holds 65 per cent of the US smartphone market, while OpenAI controls at least 80 per cent of the generative AI chatbot market through ChatGPT.
Apple and OpenAI announced their partnership in June 2024, making ChatGPT the exclusive AI assistant accessible through Apple’s Siri voice assistant and other iPhone features.
The lawsuit alleges this arrangement gives ChatGPT exclusive access to “billions of user prompts” from hundreds of millions of iPhone users.
The complaint also accuses Apple of manipulating App Store rankings to favour ChatGPT while delaying approval of updates to the Grok app.
Musk’s companies are seeking billions in damages and a permanent injunction to stop the alleged anticompetitive practices. They have demanded a jury trial.
“This latest filing is consistent with Mr Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment,” OpenAI said in a statement to AFP.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit follows threats Mr Musk made earlier this month that triggered a fiery exchange with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
In a post on X, the tech billionaire threatened to sue Apple for “an unequivocal antitrust violation,” accusing the company of “behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store.”
Hitting back, Mr Altman called Musk’s accusation “remarkable,” charging that Mr Musk himself “manipulates X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”
Mr Musk called Mr Altman a “liar” in the heated exchange before taking aim at the follower count.
“You got 3M views on your bulls*** post, you liar, far more than I’ve received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!” Mr Musk wrote.
Striking back, Mr Altman asked Mr Musk if he would “sign an affidavit that you have never directed changes to the X algorithm in a way that has hurt your competitors or helped your own companies?” adding “i will apologize if so (sic)”.
Hours later, Mr Musk posted: “Scam Altman lies as easily as he breathes.”
Both men were original founders of OpenAI before Mr Musk’s departure in 2018 and now have a highly conflictual relationship.
Mr Musk founded xAI in 2023 to compete with OpenAI and other major AI players that have poured billions of dollars into AI since the blockbuster launch of the first version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022.
Originally published as ‘Desperate bid’: Elon Musk’s AI start-up sues Apple and OpenAI
