Musk’s X and xAI take Apple, OpenAI to court over alleged conspiracy to ‘thwart competition in AI’

X, formerly the microblogging platform Twitter, and xAI—the artificial intelligence startup of Elon Musk, the world’s richest person—is taking Apple and OpenAI to court by lodging a lawsuit in a federal court in Texas late on Monday, alleging that the two companies are perpetrators of an “illegal conspiracy” to thwart “competition in artificial intelligence”.

According to the lawsuit, both Apple and OpenAI have “locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing. If not for its exclusive deal with OpenAI, Apple would have no reason to refrain from more prominently featuring the X app and the Grok app in its App Store.”

To the uninitiated, Apple signed an exclusive partnership with OpenAI last year to integrate its generative AI platform ChatGPT into Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and Macs. “In a desperate bid to protect its smartphone monopoly, Apple has joined forces with the company that most benefits from inhibiting competition and innovation in AI: OpenAI, a monopolist in the market for generative AI chatbots,” the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court of North Texas, reads.

Multiple U.S.-based news organisations quoted an OpenAI spokesperson calling the lawsuit something “consistent with Mr. Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.” Musk had threatened to sue Apple in early August, alleging “an unequivocal antitrust violation.” In a post on X, Musk also said that the Cupertino-based company is “behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store.”

The lawsuit is reflective of Musk and Altman publicly sparring with each other. The two had helped co-found OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left the company in 2018, before ChatGPT took off. After acquiring Twitter and rebranding it as X in 2023, Musk launched xAI, his own AI platform to counter OpenAI and ChatGPT.

However, last year, when OpenAI said transitioning to a for-profit structure became necessary to further the development of AI models, Musk promptly sued Altman and the others for going against the provisions by prioritising money over the public good for the advancement of AI.

In February, Musk took everyone by surprise when he led a consortium of buyers to bid $97.4 billion to acquire the non-profit that controls OpenAI. Expectantly, Altman publicly rejected the offer, retorting sardonically that OpenAI can buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if Musk is willing to put it on sale.