Elon Musk Threatens to Sue Apple Over Grok App Ranking

Elon Musk has taken fresh aim at Apple, warning that his AI company, xAI, is preparing legal action over what he calls unfair treatment on the App Store. 

The billionaire claims Apple is deliberately boosting OpenAI’s ChatGPT while pushing down his own chatbot, Grok, in the rankings.

In a series of posts on X late Monday, Musk accused the tech giant of “unequivocal antitrust violations,” saying Apple’s actions make it “impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach the number one spot.” 

At the time, ChatGPT sat comfortably at the top of Apple’s App Store charts, while Grok trailed in fifth place.

“Unfortunately, what choice do we have? Apple didn’t just put their thumb on the scale, they put their whole body,” Musk wrote, questioning why X, which he calls “the number one news app in the world,” wasn’t ranked higher. 

He also implied that Apple’s decisions might be politically motivated, pointedly asking, “Are you playing politics? What gives?”

Musk’s outburst drew a swift response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who dismissed the accusations as “remarkable” given Musk’s own alleged track record of tilting X to suit his personal and business interests. Altman said OpenAI would remain focused on “making great products.”

But the clash didn’t end there. The next morning, Musk doubled down, suggesting Apple was acting as if it were “owned by OpenAI” and sharing screenshots of App Store banners prominently featuring ChatGPT.

Musk and Altman have a complicated history, they co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before Musk left the board in 2018. Since then, Musk has become one of OpenAI’s harshest critics, accusing the company of abandoning its nonprofit mission when it partnered with Microsoft. 

His feud with the company even reached the courts, with Musk filing and later refiling a lawsuit in 2024 over that very issue.