Musk threatens Apple over alleged bias towards OpenAI

Elon Musk has threatened to take Apple to court, accusing the iPhone maker of making it “impossible” for apps to compete with ChatGPT developer OpenAI on its App Store.

The billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter) levelled the allegation on Wednesday, reigniting his feud with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman — once his ally in co-founding the AI company, but now one of his fiercest rivals.

Musk branded Altman a “liar” after the latter claimed the Tesla and SpaceX chief was leveraging X to “benefit himself and his companies.”

Apple partnership draws criticism
Apple announced its tie-up with OpenAI in June 2024, integrating ChatGPT into certain iOS features. While Musk suggested the partnership unfairly benefits OpenAI, there is no public evidence the tech giant is excluding competitors. In fact, rival AI apps such as DeepSeek and Perplexity have topped App Store charts in recent months. Apple has yet to comment on Musk’s claims.

The billionaire also criticised Apple for not featuring X or Grok — his own AI chatbot — in its “Must Have” section. “X is the number one news app in the world, and Grok is number five among all apps,” Musk wrote, noting that ChatGPT holds the top spot for free downloads in the UK, with Grok ranked third. X itself is absent from the top 40.

From partners to adversaries
Altman appeared to respond indirectly by sharing a report suggesting Musk had manipulated X’s algorithms to make his own posts more visible.

The two tech leaders’ relationship soured years ago, stemming from Musk’s belief that OpenAI had strayed from its original mission. Founded in 2015 as a non-profit dedicated to developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) in an open-source format for public benefit, OpenAI launched a for-profit arm in 2019 — a move Musk has repeatedly called a betrayal.

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In March this year, Musk sued OpenAI, accusing it of prioritising profit for key investor Microsoft, though he later dropped the case. In April, OpenAI filed a countersuit, accusing Musk of “bad-faith tactics” and of pursuing his “own agenda.”

The rivalry has spilled into boardrooms and the marketplace. In February, Musk reportedly made a surprise $100 billion bid to buy OpenAI — an offer swiftly rejected by its board.