A public spat has erupted between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over alleged favoritism in Apple’s App Store. Musk, CEO of xAI and owner of X (formerly Twitter), claims Apple is promoting OpenAI’s ChatGPT over rival AI tools like his company’s Grok chatbot, calling the practice “an unequivocal antitrust violation” and threatening legal action.
In posts on X, Musk accused Apple of excluding both X and Grok from its “Must Have” app lists, despite Grok ranking fifth among all apps and X topping the news category. He also shared screenshots showing AI app roundups that feature competitors such as Copilot and Google Gemini but omit Grok. Musk questioned whether Apple was “playing politics” in its curation choices.
Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, responded swiftly on the same platform, calling Musk’s complaint “remarkable” given allegations that Musk has manipulated X’s algorithm to boost his own posts and disadvantage competitors. Altman linked to a Platformer report claiming Musk created an internal team to tweak X’s algorithm in his favor, citing examples from the 2023 Super Bowl.
Apple has yet to comment on the dispute. The company has faced previous antitrust scrutiny over its App Store practices, most notably in a high-profile legal battle with Fortnite developer Epic Games over in-app fees and market dominance. In 2024, Apple partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence, allowing Siri to route complex queries to the chatbot.
Musk argues that Apple’s promotional choices give OpenAI an unfair advantage, describing Apple as “the gateway to the Internet for half of America.” However, critics of Musk’s claim point out that other AI apps, including DeepSeek and Perplexity, have reached the top of App Store rankings since the Apple–OpenAI deal was announced.
The exchange underscores growing tensions in the AI sector, where market share is increasingly influenced not just by product capabilities but also by distribution channels and platform partnerships.
