xAI sues Apple and OpenAI alleging an illegal AI monopoly on iPhones

Elon Musk’s xAI and his social-media company X filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI in federal court in Texas, alleging the two companies had entered an illegal scheme to preserve their respective dominance in smartphones and AI chatbots. The 61-page complaint centred on Apple’s integration of ChatGPT into iOS, made exclusive among third-party chatbots, which xAI’s filing characterised as a deal struck because Apple had been “blindsided by major innovations in AI” and moved to protect its smartphone position by locking in OpenAI rather than competing on the merits.

The complaint’s specific allegations went beyond the integration deal itself: xAI alleged that Apple manipulated App Store search rankings to favour ChatGPT over rival chatbot apps including Grok, and separately delayed approving updates to the Grok app, actions it argued amounted to using App Store gatekeeping power to entrench a favoured AI partner. xAI and X sought billions of dollars in damages, a permanent injunction against the alleged practices, and a jury trial.

OpenAI dismissed the suit as unfounded, with a spokesperson calling the filing “consistent with Mr Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.” The case was distinct from a separate suit Musk had brought personally, alongside a group of former OpenAI employees and donors, over OpenAI’s conversion from nonprofit to for-profit structure. As of early 2026 the Apple/OpenAI antitrust suit remained in litigation in the Fort Worth division of the Northern District of Texas, including disputes over evidence, and had not been resolved. It added a fourth front — alongside the nonprofit-conversion suit, public disputes over training data, and direct product competition between Grok and ChatGPT — to the litigation between Musk’s companies and OpenAI.