Elon Musk sues Apple, Sam Altman’s OpenAI for allegedly colluding to crush xAI

Billionaire Elon Musk filed a bombshell lawsuit against Apple and Sam Altman’s OpenAI on Monday, accusing the two tech giants of illegally colluding to stifle xAI and other artificial intelligence rivals.

Filed in Texas federal court, the antitrust lawsuit came just weeks after Musk publicly threatened legal action over Apple’s alleged refusal to feature either the X app or Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot offered by xAI, within the top rankings of its App Store.

“Working in tandem, Defendants Apple and OpenAI have locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing,” the lawsuit alleges.

Musk’s attorneys said the lawsuit is intended to “stop Defendants from perpetrating their anticompetitive scheme and to recover billions in damages” related to their alleged conduct.”

The lawsuit noted that Apple reached terms last year to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its iPhones. Musk alleged that the partnership prevented customers from easily accessing other chatbots due to the two companies’ respective dominance over smartphones and AI.

“Customers in the smartphone market are harmed by this conduct because they cannot readily switch to less expensive smartphones and use generative AI chatbots and super apps that match or replace the features offered by the iPhone,” the lawsuit says.

“Absent Defendants’ misconduct, consumers would be able to pay less for smartphones and achieve the same or higher quality,” it adds.

In a terse emailed statement to The Post, an OpenAI spokesman said, “This latest filing is consistent with Mr Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.”

Representatives for xAI and Apple did not immediately return requests for further comment.

Musk first implied last month that Apple was suppressing his apps at the behest of OpenAI – who Musk is already suing in separate proceedings for allegedly abandoning its charitable mission while pursuing a for-profit restructuring.

“Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?” Musk wrote in an X post on Aug. 12. “Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know.”

In another post, Musk alleged at the time that Apple was “behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store.”