Antitrust claims over Siri tie-up
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by locking out rivals through exclusive integration of ChatGPT on iPhones.
The complaint, lodged in a US federal court, alleges that Apple’s 2024 deal with OpenAI ensured that ChatGPT became the only generative AI chatbot with first-party integration on Apple devices, through Siri and new writing and camera features.
Musk’s team argues this arrangement handed OpenAI “exclusive access to billions of potential prompts” while curbing competition.
Escalating Silicon Valley feud
The legal action marks the latest flashpoint in a bitter rivalry between Musk and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, his former ally. The case also draws Apple into the conflict, adding to tensions between Musk and the iPhone maker dating back to 2022, when he accused it of threatening to remove Twitter from the App Store.
Musk’s suit claims the Apple-OpenAI pact amounts to an “unlawful agreement” that unfairly disadvantages competitors like his own chatbot Grok. It also accuses Apple of manipulating App Store rankings and delaying updates to suppress rivals.
Monopoly concerns
The lawsuit contends that Apple is using the partnership to protect its smartphone dominance by stifling development of AI-powered “super apps”, echoing arguments in a parallel US Justice Department case targeting the iPhone maker. OpenAI, meanwhile, is accused of holding monopoly power in the chatbot market.
Apple has previously suggested it may integrate other chatbots, such as Google’s Gemini, though no further deals have materialised. OpenAI dismissed Musk’s claims as part of an “ongoing pattern of harassment”. Apple has yet to comment.
Broader implications
The case underlines how AI is reshaping the battle lines in technology. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but quit in 2018, has since launched xAI and merged it with his social platform X. He is also suing OpenAI separately in California over claims it abandoned its non-profit mission.
By targeting both Apple and OpenAI, Musk is seeking to challenge not just market dominance but also the future architecture of AI on smartphones – a fight likely to reverberate across global tech.
