Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, claiming the iPhone maker and ChatGPT developer are teaming up to limit competition in artificial intelligence.
The 61-page document, filed in federal court in Texas, follows earlier threats from the entrepreneur, who two weeks ago accused Apple of artificially promoting OpenAI and ChatGPT to the top of its store's AI apps.
In his post, Musk implied that the Cupertino company was discriminating against ChatGPT's competitors, including the Grok bot from his own company xAI.
Now he's detailing a set of claims in a court document filed on behalf of xAI and X Corp, seeking financial compensation and an injunction against the allegedly illegal practices.
The legal attack connects several recent developments, casting Apple and OpenAI's long-standing partnership as a hidden conspiracy to stifle competition at a time of technological change comparable in significance to the launch of the iPhone in 2007.
“This is the story of two giants uniting to maintain power in a world that is being transformed by the most powerful technology in human history: artificial intelligence,” the lawsuit says.
The document describes Apple as a corporation that views AI as an “existential threat” to its business model, which allegedly prompted it to collude with OpenAI to protect the iPhone, its main source of revenue.
Some of the allegations regarding the iPhone's protection from multi-functional platforms, including Musk's X project, echo an antitrust lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department last year.
OpenAI is portrayed in the complaint as a threat to humanity by prioritizing profits over safety in pursuit of expansion following the success of ChatGPT in 2022.
That characterization aligns with arguments in another of Musk's lawsuits, which alleges that the company has strayed from its original nonprofit mission to serve the public interest.
OpenAI, in turn, filed a counterclaim, accusing the businessman of harassment. “This statement continues a series of aggressive actions by Mr. Musk,” the company commented.
The central point of the case was Apple's decision to use ChatGPT as a “digital assistant” on the iPhone when its own technology was insufficient.
The partnership, announced last year, was part of Apple's belated entry into the AI race, initially planned to be based on its own developments. But many of the promises have gone unfulfilled.
Weaknesses in Apple's own AI could help strengthen ChatGPT's position by giving OpenAI exclusive access to data unavailable to Grok and other competitors.
The lawsuit alleges that the alliance created conditions to artificially inflate ChatGPT's position in the App Store's AI rankings.
Apps from DeepSeek and Perplexity have periodically topped the store's AI section in certain regions since Apple announced its partnership with ChatGPT.
The document does not address potential risks to Apple from future competition from ChatGPT.
As part of its development strategy, OpenAI has recruited former Apple designer Jony Ive to lead a project to create an AI device that experts say could challenge the iPhone.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
