Elon Musk’s companies, xAI and X, have filed a comprehensive antitrust lawsuit against tech giants Apple and OpenAI. The legal action, filed in a federal court in Texas, alleges the two companies formed an illegal partnership to suppress competition in artificial intelligence and smartphone markets.
The 61-page complaint centres on the exclusive deal announced in June 2024 that integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Apple’s iPhone operating system.
The lawsuit presents a stark picture of market dominance. It claims Apple controls 65 per cent of the U.S. smartphone market, while OpenAI holds at least 80 per cent of the generative AI chatbot market through ChatGPT.
Musk’s XAI Sues Apple And OpenAI, Alleging App Store Collusionhttps://t.co/EzNKrmxpll pic.twitter.com/pqaoQ3oQVe
— Forbes (@Forbes) August 25, 2025The plaintiffs argue that their exclusive partnership creates an unfair ecosystem. The integration makes ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot accessible through Apple’s Siri voice assistant and other native iPhone features.
This arrangement, the lawsuit states, grants ChatGPT exclusive access to “billions of user prompts” from hundreds of millions of iPhone users. The complaint further accuses Apple of manipulating its App Store rankings to favour ChatGPT while allegedly delaying approval for updates to xAI’s rival chatbot, Grok.
Musk’s companies are seeking billions of dollars in damages. They have also requested a permanent injunction from the court to stop the alleged anti-competitive practices and have demanded a jury trial.
Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup xAI sued Apple and OpenAI, alleging that the companies are illegally thwarting competition for artificial-intelligence companies https://t.co/45h3u5cPfU
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 25, 2025This legal battle follows a public and heated exchange between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this month. Musk accused Altman’s company of benefiting from manipulated App Store rankings, a charge Altman called “remarkable.”
Altman countered by accusing Musk of manipulating his own social media platform, X, to benefit his companies and harm competitors. Both men were original co-founders of OpenAI before Musk’s departure in 2018. Musk founded xAI in 2023 to directly compete with OpenAI in the artificial intelligence space.
As of the filing, neither Apple nor OpenAI has issued an immediate public response to the lawsuit
