The billionaire’s artificial-intelligence company and his social-media platform sued the iPhone maker, claiming it was violating antitrust laws by giving preferential treatment to its own AI partner (and Musk enemy), OpenAI and ChatGPT.
“This makes it hard for competitors of ChatGPT’s generative AI chatbot and super apps powered by generative AI chatbots to scale and innovate,” said the lawsuit, filed by Musk’s xAI and X in a Texas federal court.
That is at odds with a prevailing view in Silicon Valley. Meta Platforms chief Mark Zuckerberg and others believe that advanced AI will usher in a new computing paradigm that basically relegates the iPhone to something akin to a Computer History Museum exhibit. They see it as a rare generational opening to unseat Apple’s hold as the gateway to the digital world.
A one-sided cold war has been brewing between Musk and Apple chief Tim Cook ever since the Tesla and SpaceX CEO acquired Twitter in late 2022. Musk quickly realized how powerful App Store rules are for companies like his.
If Musk thought the paperwork to launch Starship was frustrating, he had obviously never waded through Apple’s app-review process.
Opponents of Apple’s control of the App Economy watched with glee as Musk lashed out at Apple and Cook personally. They quietly hoped Elon’s megaphone and megabucks might help their cause in fighting the tech giant.
His entry into the antitrust battle against Apple held the promise of fueling new excitement in legislation that was then stalled before Congress. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, in particular, seemed eager to make hay of his interest.
But Cook quickly dispatched Musk, essentially patting him on the head with a VIP tour of Apple Park and apparent promises of continuing to advertise on his struggling social-media platform. Soon enough, Musk raced off to the next shiny objects, such as messing with Sam Altman’s AI ambitions.
Frankly, it’s hard to tell these days how much fire is in Musk’s belly to fight Apple’s perceived injustices. Or if Apple is receiving the incoming attacks simply because of the animosity Musk has for Altman.
The two billionaires teamed up almost a decade ago to create OpenAI. Eventually, Musk left in a huff over their differing visions for the future. OpenAI’s sudden and, perhaps, unexpected success has turned the company into Musk’s own personal “Rosebud” obsession. He since founded xAI as a rival to OpenAI, and merged it with Twitter, now known as X.
His companies’ lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI this past week came just days after a federal judge in the San Francisco area rejected Musk’s efforts to dismiss OpenAI’s claims that he is trying to harass the startup.
“OpenAI puts Musk on notice that it alleges the media campaign ‘significantly threaten[ed] or harm[ed] competition,’ was either untrue or misleading and deceiving to an actual customer, and was designed to—and ultimately did—disrupt a business relationship leading to economic harm,” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote. “At this stage, the allegations are sufficient.”
A trial is scheduled for March.
It’s hard not to see Musk’s continued legal campaigns against Altman as anything but a sign of how far behind his own efforts to develop AI are—despite all of his bravado.
In the Apple-OpenAI case, his side essentially admits as much. The Musk lawsuit notes that his AI chatbot, Grok, has gained little market share “despite accolades about its superior features,” while OpenAI has quickly become the dominant player.
The arguments against Apple draw similarities to an antitrust case brought last year by the Justice Department. That case includes allegations that Apple has taken steps to suppress so-called superapps from taking hold. This was supposedly done out of fear that such third-party offerings make it easier for iPhone users to switch to rival smartphones, diminishing the value of the Apple ecosystem.
Musk has said his broader vision for X is to remake it as a superapp, similar to China’s powerful WeChat, where users conduct much of their digital lives.
In the latest lawsuit, Musk’s team argues that AI supercharges those superapp efforts. Essentially, Musk’s claim is that the Apple-OpenAI partnership hinders rivals from gathering important user data from iPhone customers.
This hurts AI development, which in turn prevents superapps from effectively rising up to threaten the iPhone’s supremacy. “This is a tale of two monopolists joining forces to ensure their continued dominance in a world rapidly driven by the most powerful technology humanity has ever created: artificial intelligence,” the lawsuit said.
Apple hasn’t yet officially responded to Musk’s lawsuit, although it has previously said its App Store is “designed to be fair and bias free.” It is defending itself against the government’s antitrust case and said the government lacks evidence of wrongdoing and “fundamentally misunderstands” its business.
“DOJ says Apple stifles the success of ‘super apps,’ despite the fact that Apple’s rules allow and support such apps, and indeed a multitude of ‘super apps’ exist on the App Store today,” Apple said in a July court filing.
Even if Apple agrees with OpenAI that Musk’s claims are without merit, his escalation comes with new risks for the iPhone maker outside the courtroom—political risks.
The idea of legislation targeting Apple has returned to Congress. Blackburn, the Republican senator, has joined with her Democratic colleagues to reintroduce the Open App Markets Act.
She told me in a statement that Musk’s claims about Apple’s AI interference are why Congress needs to act. “Big Tech should not be allowed to play kingmaker in the mobile app economy,” she said. “This kind of control allows companies to use their app stores to favor certain businesses and partnerships while stifling competition, limiting innovation, and ultimately hurting the consumer.”
For Musk, the friend of his enemy has become his enemy.
Write to Tim Higgins at tim.higgins@wsj.com
