Billionaire Elon Musk said his AI company xAI will take the case against Apple, accusing the company of violating antitrust laws in managing the App Store rankings.
On August 12, Mr. Musk posted on the X platform that Apple is behaving in a way that prevents any other AI company other than OpenAI from reaching No. 1 on the App Store, and considered this a clear violation of antitrust law.
Currently, OpenAI's ChatGPT is leading the "Top free apps" section on the App Store for iPhone in the US, while xAI's Grok is ranked 5th and Google's Gemini chatbot is ranked 57th. According to Sensor Tower data, ChatGPT also topped the rankings on the Google Play Store.
Apple is currently partnering with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Mr. Musk questioned why Apple did not include the X or Grok apps in the App Store's "Must- Have" section, even though X is the world's number 1 news app and Grok is in the top 5 of all apps. He also suspected that this had a "political" element.
Apple, OpenAI and xAI have not responded before being asked for comment. Musk has also not released specific evidence for his allegations.
The incident comes as Apple is under close scrutiny from regulators and rivals over control of the App Store.
Previously, in April, a US judge ruled that Apple violated a court order requesting more fair competition on the App Store, and transferred the case to federal prosecutors to investigate court dismissal, according to a lawsuit filed by Epic Games - manufacturer of fortnite.
Also in April, the European Union fined Apple 500 million euros for saying its technical and commercial limitations had prevented the app developer from directing users to cheaper options outside the App Store, violating the Digital Market Act.
