Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur known for his ventures in electric cars, rockets, and social media, has opened a new front in his ongoing battle with Big Tech. On August 25, 2025, Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, alongside his social media platform X, filed a 61-page lawsuit in a Texas federal court against Apple and OpenAI. The suit accuses the two tech giants of colluding to monopolize the smartphone and generative AI markets, with Apple allegedly manipulating its App Store to favor OpenAI’s ChatGPT over competitors like xAI’s chatbot, Grok.
According to Fortune, the lawsuit centers on Apple’s decision last year to integrate ChatGPT as an operating system-level “answer engine” in its products, including iPhones. xAI claims this move gives OpenAI privileged access to billions of iPhone user queries, providing a steady stream of valuable data that further cements its dominance in the AI space. “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 complaint alleges.
The legal action follows a social media warning Musk made two weeks prior, where he wrote, “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.” The lawsuit claims that Apple’s alleged manipulation of App Store rankings and its close partnership with OpenAI “locks up markets to maintain monopolies” and unfairly tilts the playing field against rivals.
OpenAI, the company Musk co-founded in 2015 but left three years later due to disagreements over its direction, dismissed the lawsuit as harassment. A spokesperson told India Today, “This lawsuit is consistent with Mr. Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has had a long and public feud with Musk, added, “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.” Altman continued, “But OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products.”
Musk’s legal battles with OpenAI are not new. Last year, he sued the company for allegedly abandoning its nonprofit mission in favor of aggressive revenue pursuits. OpenAI responded with a countersuit, accusing Musk of harassment. Earlier in 2025, Musk even led a nearly $100 billion takeover bid for OpenAI, which the company rejected. The rivalry between Musk and OpenAI’s leadership, including Altman and president Greg Brockman, has played out both in courtrooms and online, with regular public sparring over the future of artificial intelligence and corporate ethics.
Apple, for its part, has not commented directly on the latest lawsuit. However, the company has previously stated that its App Store is “designed to be fair and free of bias.” In 2022, Musk accused Apple of threatening to remove X (formerly Twitter) from the App Store, a claim he later described as a misunderstanding after a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Despite the risk that Apple’s app approval power poses to Grok and other xAI products, Musk appears undeterred in his willingness to challenge the tech giant in court.
The choice of Texas as the venue for the lawsuit is no accident. After a Delaware judge voided Musk’s multibillion-dollar Tesla pay package, he moved several company headquarters to Texas and updated X’s terms of service to require users to bring legal complaints in Texas courts. By filing the suit there, Musk continues his strategy of shifting major disputes to a jurisdiction he perceives as more favorable.
This lawsuit arrives at a pivotal moment for Musk, who is working to position himself at the center of the AI race. He has staged demonstrations of Grok, claimed to be “24/7 at work,” and provided frequent updates on X about his companies’ progress. The stakes are high: Apple’s App Store commands vast influence over which apps succeed, while OpenAI remains one of the most powerful players in AI.
The legal complaint is explicit in its demands. It seeks to enjoin Apple and OpenAI from what it calls “unlawful conduct,” arguing that without court intervention, “defendants will continue to thwart competition, and their competitors, like plaintiffs, will continue to suffer the anticompetitive consequences.” Musk’s claim that “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store” is at the heart of the antitrust argument.
The broader context of the lawsuit also includes Musk’s recent legal woes. As reported by RadarOnline, he has been on the defensive in several high-profile cases, including a $500 million settlement with former Twitter employees over severance pay and a lawsuit alleging an illegal $1 million election lottery during Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Despite these setbacks, Musk continues to pursue aggressive legal and business strategies, often framing his actions as necessary to protect innovation and competition.
The high-profile nature of the lawsuit has drawn attention to the growing concerns over Big Tech’s control of emerging technologies. The case comes at a time when Silicon Valley heavyweights are also mobilizing politically. As Fortune notes, a new pro-AI political-action committee network called Leading the Future has launched with $100 million from tech luminaries, aiming to oppose strict AI regulation and maintain America’s lead in the field. Venture capitalists, AI executives, and industry insiders are increasingly vocal about the dangers of policies that, in their view, could stifle innovation or allow China to gain global AI superiority.
Meanwhile, Apple’s integration of ChatGPT into its products has set a precedent for how AI tools can be embedded into consumer technology. xAI’s lawsuit argues that this kind of deep integration, combined with control over app distribution, creates insurmountable barriers for rivals. Apple’s silence on the matter only adds to the intrigue, leaving industry watchers to speculate on how the company will respond to the mounting legal pressure.
For Musk, the outcome of this lawsuit could have far-reaching implications—not just for his companies, but for the broader AI ecosystem. If successful, the case could reshape how tech giants partner, compete, and share access to the world’s most popular digital platforms. If not, it may further cement the dominance of the very companies Musk has set out to challenge.
As the legal battle unfolds, one thing is clear: the fight for the future of artificial intelligence is as much about courtroom drama as it is about technological innovation. In the high-stakes world of Big Tech, the lines between competitor, partner, and adversary are constantly shifting—and for now, all eyes are on Texas.
