Elon Musk's companies, X Corp. and xAI, have filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, alleging they formed an exclusive and anticompetitive partnership. The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Texas, claims the agreement gives OpenAI's ChatGPT a monopoly in the generative AI chatbot market, effectively shutting out rivals like xAI's Grok.
The complaint seeks "billions" in damages and a court order to end the exclusive deal that makes ChatGPT the sole AI chatbot integrated into iOS. The lawsuit claims that this arrangement grants ChatGPT exclusive access to data from hundreds of millions of iPhones, giving it an unfair advantage.
According to the filing, ChatGPT holds at least 80% of the market, while Grok has only a small fraction. This exclusive partnership, the plaintiffs argue, allows ChatGPT to maintain its dominance through a real-time feedback loop powered by iPhone users. The complaint also alleges that Apple manipulates App Store rankings to favor ChatGPT, while delaying and rejecting updates and feature requests from Grok.
The lawsuit accuses Apple of fearing "super apps" that could threaten its smartphone market share. It also claims that Apple and OpenAI have a revenue-sharing agreement that will see Apple collect "monopoly rents" as OpenAI plans to increase its premium subscription fee.
The complaint lists several violations of the Sherman Act, including restraint of trade and monopolization. X Corp. and xAI are seeking an injunction to end the exclusive arrangement and ensure equal integration opportunities for all competitors.
August 2025, Cryptoniteuae