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Dhaka, August 13, 2025 – Tech billionaire Elon Musk, owner of xAI, SpaceX, Tesla, and the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has announced plans to sue Apple, accusing the company of deliberately manipulating its App Store rankings to favor certain AI applications. Musk claims that Apple’s actions have prevented X and xAI’s Grok chatbot from being included in the iOS App Store’s recommended apps list, alleging an “unequivocal antitrust violation.” He stated that xAI would take “immediate legal action” to address the issue.
In multiple posts on X, Musk asserted that Apple’s practices make it impossible for any AI company other than OpenAI to reach the top spot in the App Store. However, he provided no evidence to support his claims, and it remains unclear whether a lawsuit has been formally filed. According to a report by *The Verge*, OpenAI’s ChatGPT currently holds the number one position among free iPhone apps in the U.S. App Store, while Grok ranks sixth. Notably, earlier this year, China’s DeepSeek AI briefly surpassed ChatGPT to claim the top spot, contradicting Musk’s assertion that it is “impossible” for other AI apps to reach the top.
This is not the first instance of tension between Musk, Apple, and OpenAI. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, later sued the company when it transitioned to a for-profit model and rejected his acquisition proposal. Last year, when Apple and OpenAI announced a partnership to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs, Musk threatened to ban Apple products from his companies’ workplaces, citing security concerns over OpenAI’s technology in Apple’s operating system.
