Elon Musk is suing Apple and OpenAI over their deal to bring ChatGPT to iPhone users, according to a lawsuit filed (PDF) Monday with the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The lawsuit was filed by xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot, and its parent company xAI Corp., which Musk founded and which also owns the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The main complaint is that Apple doesn’t allow iPhone owners to use any other chatbot, like xAI’s Grok. Because of this, consumers are locked into using ChatGPT, which gives OpenAI the «benefits from billions of user prompts» that help the company improve its AI and scale its business.
Apple announced ChatGPT integration for iPhone, iPads and MacBooks at its 2024 developers conference. It was an important milestone for the tech titan; while Apple dominates the US smartphone market, it hasn’t been as quick to commandeer the mobile AI race. Google quickly integrated its Gemini assistant into Samsung and Pixel smartphones, but Apple’s AI, named Apple Intelligence, has been slower to roll out. The long-awaited release of an AI-enabled, smarter Siri has been delayed to 2026. Using ChatGPT with Siri is one of Apple’s main AI features that is currently available.
The lawsuit also alleges that Apple manipulated rankings in its App Stores to deprioritize non-OpenAI chatbots, a claim Musk has raised in recent X posts. Apple has denied these claims, telling the BBC, «We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria.»
ChatGPT is currently the No. 1 free app on the Apple App Store, with Grok at No. 26 and X at 31. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk’s complaints with his own X post that highlighted reports Musk manipulated X’s algorithms to prioritize his own posts in users’ feeds on that platform.
Apple and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An OpenAI spokesperson said, «This latest filing is consistent with Mr. Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.»
This is the latest in a string of lawsuits and battles between Musk and OpenAI. Last year Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI over its plans to convert the company’s structure to a for-profit model, claiming it was straying from its core mission from its early days when Musk was a co-founder. During those legal proceedings, Musk also attempted to buy and take control over OpenAI’s parent company with a $97.4 billion bid. Altman told Bloomberg in February that Musk’s lawsuits are a tactic to slow down OpenAI’s innovation and that they may be coming from a place of insecurity over xAI, adding that, «Probably his whole life is from a place of insecurity.»
For iPhone owners, don’t expect the lawsuit to change your experience using Siri and ChatGPT anytime soon. The filing requested a jury trial, and we can expect to see updates to this case in the coming months.
