Elon Musk’s xAI sues Apple and OpenAI, alleging antitrust violations

Complaint accuses Apple and OpenAI of entering an illegal partnership to stifle competition in AI and smartphone markets

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Published: 1:10am, 26 Aug 2025Updated: 9:45am, 26 Aug 2025

Elon Musk’s companies xAI and X filed a sweeping US antitrust lawsuit on Monday against Apple and OpenAI, alleging the tech giants formed an illegal partnership to stifle competition in artificial intelligence and smartphone markets.

The 61-page complaint, filed in federal court in Texas, accuses Apple and OpenAI of entering an exclusive deal that makes OpenAI’s ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot integrated into Apple’s iPhone operating system while blocking rivals such as xAI’s Grok.

“This is a tale of two monopolists joining forces to ensure their continued dominance in a world rapidly driven by the most powerful technology humanity has ever created: artificial intelligence,” the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs claim Apple holds 65 per cent of the US smartphone market, while OpenAI controls at least 80 per cent of the generative AI chatbot market through ChatGPT.

Apple and OpenAI announced their partnership in June 2024, making ChatGPT the exclusive AI assistant accessible through Apple’s Siri voice assistant and other iPhone features.

The lawsuit alleges this arrangement gives ChatGPT exclusive access to “billions of user prompts” from hundreds of millions of iPhone users.

The complaint also accuses Apple of manipulating App Store rankings to favour ChatGPT while delaying approval of updates to the Grok app.

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