Musk Pulls the Trigger, Sues Apple and OpenAI Over App Store Rankings
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Elon Musk has made good on his threat to sue Apple and OpenAI. Today, Musk’s X Corp. and X.AI LLC filed a 60-page complaint in a Texas federal court against the two companies in a “tale of two monopolists joining forces.” The lawsuit aims to halt Apple and OpenAI’s alleged “anticompetitive scheme” and seeks billions in damages.
The complaint accuses Apple and OpenAI of a “…conspiracy to monopolize the markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots…” which prevents “innovators like X and xAI from competing.” Apple has integrated ChatGPT into its operating system for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. X Corp and X.AI LLC maintain that but for this partnership, “Apple would have no reason to refrain from more prominently featuring the X app and Grok app in its App Store.”
The scope of Apple’s partnership with ChatGPT is best understood by the numbers. The primary issue is ChatGPT’s exclusive access to Siri’s prompts. According to the filing, there were 1.5 billion user requests per day via Siri in 2024, amounting to “more than the total prompts for generative AI in 2024.” According to Musk’s legal team’s calculations, this means OpenAI is given up to 55% of all AI chatbot prompts, excluding additional prompts from the iPhone’s Writing Tools and Camera app.
OpenAI has stated that these allegations are simply ongoing harassment from Musk, echoing its position in its response to Musk’s separate federal lawsuit against OpenAI for abandoning its non-profit mission. However, legal experts aren’t as dismissive.
Apple’s dominant position in the smartphone market could lend credibility to claims that Apple is illegally tying its sales to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This may be the first time US courts are faced with assessing whether a defined market for AI exists, which is a requirement for any antitrust evaluation. “It’s a canary in the coal mine in terms of how courts will treat AI, and treat antitrust and AI,” Christine Batholomew, a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law, told Reuters.
This is sure to be a high-powered battle with world-class legal talent on all sides. We’ll do our best to follow along and simplify it for you.
