Elon Musk’s companies sue Apple,OpenAI alleging anticompetitive scheme

[Apple Store at 5th Ave in Manhattan, New York City]
ozgurdonmaz/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

Elon Musk’s social media platform X and his artificial intelligence startup xAI filed a lawsuit [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/25/musk-lawsuit-apple-openai-monopoly.html] on Monday against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) and OpenAI, alleging these companies of “anticompetitive scheme” to thwart AI rivals.

According to the lawsuit, Musk’s companies allege that Apple and OpenAI have “colluded” to maintain a monopoly in the smartphone and generative AI markets.

xAI and X also accuse Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) of deprioritizing other “super apps” and gen-AI chatbot competitors, such as xAI’s Grok in its App Store rankings.

X, xAI, Apple, and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Seeking Alpha request for comment.

“Unless the court enjoins Apple and OpenAI’s unlawful conduct, defendants will continue to thwart competition, and their competitors, like plaintiffs, will continue to suffer the anticompetitive consequences,” according to the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Elon Musk, earlier this month had threatened legal action [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4483629-musk-threatens-legal-action-against-apple-over-alleged-antitrust-violations] against Apple (AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]), accusing it of antitrust violations over the App Store’s rankings of Grok, the AI chatbot from his startup xAI.

“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action,” Musk wrote in a post on social media platform X.

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