By Juliet Orbo
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, alongside his social media company X Corp., filed a sweeping 61-page antitrust lawsuit on Monday, August 25, 2025, in U.S. federal court in Texas, accusing Apple and OpenAI of colluding to stifle AI competition and manipulate App Store rankings.
Allegations at the Heart of the Lawsuit
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The suit contends that Apple’s exclusive integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its operating systems (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Siri, and writing tools) gives ChatGPT a decisive edge as the only generative AI chatbot embedded at the platform level. This, according to the complaint, effectively shuts out competitors like xAI’s Grok.
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The plaintiffs accuse Apple and OpenAI of working in concert to “lock up markets” and maintain their monopolies, barring innovators from fair access to users and visibility.
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The lawsuit raises concerns that ChatGPT enjoys privileged access to potentially billions of user prompts from iPhones, strengthening OpenAI’s market dominance while handicapping rivals.
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Apple is similarly accused of deprioritizing Grok and X apps in App Store rankings—excluding them even from curated sections like “Must-Have Apps”, despite their strong performance—amounting to deliberate suppression.
Legal Team’s Strategy and Objectives
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The complaint seeks billions of dollars in damages and a jury trial, aiming to halt the alleged anticompetitive tactics.
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Texas was chosen as venue due to Apple and OpenAI’s substantial operations and investments in the state, as well as X Corp.’s Texas base.
Reactions from the Defendants
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OpenAI dismissed the claim as part of Musk’s “ongoing pattern of harassment.”
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Apple did not immediately comment, though it has previously defended its App Store operations as “fair and free of bias.”
Context and Implications
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This legal escalation marks another chapter in the protracted feud between Musk and OpenAI, a company Musk co-founded in 2015 before departing in 2018 over strategic disagreements.
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The case spotlights regulatory concerns about how App Store control, AI integration, and platform favoritism may shape competition in the fast-growing AI ecosystem.
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Legal experts suggest this lawsuit may become a litmus test for antitrust enforcement in AI—raising questions about whether courts define a distinct “AI app market” and how exclusivity and access affect competition.
