Musk threatens Apple with lawsuit over ChatGPT favoritism claims

Elon Musk accused Apple of showing anti-competitive bias in its App Store by allegedly favoring OpenAI’s ChatGPT over rival AI services, threatening legal action against the tech giant. The dispute quickly escalated into a public feud between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with both executives trading accusations about manipulating their respective platforms for personal gain.

Apple’s response: The company firmly denied Musk’s allegations, stating it maintains an unbiased approach to app promotion.

• “We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria,” an Apple spokesperson told the BBC.
• Apple emphasized that its App Store is designed to be unbiased in its treatment of different applications.

Musk’s specific claims: The xAI founder pointed to several examples of what he considers preferential treatment for OpenAI.

• He tweeted that “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation.”
• Musk questioned why X and Grok don’t appear in Apple’s “Must Have” section, claiming “𝕏 is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps.”
• He also asked, “Why is ChatGPT literally in every list where you have editorial control?”

The reality check: X’s Community Notes feature quickly challenged Musk’s assertions with contradictory evidence.

• Users noted that China’s DeepSeek topped the App Store in January, while Perplexity did the same in India’s app store last month.
• “Both of these occurred after the OpenAI-Apple partnership [was] announced on June 10, 2024,” the community note added.
• As of August 13, ChatGPT ranked #1 among free iPhone apps in the US, with Grok at position six, Google Gemini at 45, and Microsoft 365 Copilot at 82.

The Altman-Musk showdown: What started as a business dispute devolved into personal attacks between two of AI’s most prominent figures.

• Altman responded by tweeting: “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”
• He referenced reports from Platformer, a tech newsletter, claiming Musk tweaked X’s algorithm in 2023 after President Biden’s Super Bowl post performed better than his own.
• Musk fired back: “You got 3M views on your bullshit post, you liar, far more than I’ve received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!”

The AI bots join the fight: Both companies’ AI assistants were enlisted to support their creators’ arguments.

• The official ChatGPT X account reposted a response from xAI’s Grok stating: “Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes. Hypocrisy noted.”
• Musk countered by posting a Grok screenshot showing the chatbot determining that Musk is more trustworthy than Altman.

Why this matters: The public spat highlights growing tensions in the AI industry as companies compete for market dominance and platform access, with Apple’s App Store serving as a crucial distribution channel for AI applications.