Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has filed a lawsuit in Texas against Apple and OpenAI, accusing the two of colluding to block competition in the fast-growing AI market. The lawsuit claims Apple is favoring OpenAI’s ChatGPT by integrating it directly into Siri, while sidelining competitors like xAI’s Grok.
The complaint argues that Apple has given ChatGPT unique access to iPhone users through deep integration with Siri, while deprioritizing rival apps in the App Store. xAI contends this arrangement makes ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot with access to billions of user prompts from hundreds of millions of iPhones, giving it an insurmountable advantage over challengers.
xAI also says Apple has delayed App Store updates and avoided featuring Grok or Musk’s social media app X in its “Must-Have Apps” section, despite both ranking high in subject-specific charts. The lawsuit calls this an “anticompetitive scheme” that prevents xAI from scaling and denies iPhone users the ability to choose other AI options beyond ChatGPT.
Apple and OpenAI’s Defense
In response to Musk’s earlier threats, Apple said its App Store recommendations are “fair and free of bias.” The company added that editorial features and rankings are curated through a mix of algorithmic recommendations and human judgment to highlight apps across categories. Apple pointed out that other AI products, such as DeepSeek, have topped the App Store since Apple and OpenAI announced their partnership in mid-2024.
At its developer events, Apple has signaled that Siri could integrate additional chatbots in the future. In June 2024, Craig Federighi said the company had explored adding Google Gemini. At WWDC 2025, Apple introduced new Xcode tools that support Anthropic models alongside OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
For now, Musk insists Apple and OpenAI’s “exclusive arrangement” leaves iPhone owners with no real choice but to use ChatGPT. Through the lawsuit, xAI is seeking damages and a court order to block what it calls an illegal effort to secure Apple and OpenAI’s dominance in consumer AI.
