Grok vs ChatGPT: Elon Musk threatens to sue Apple over App Store ranking of AI apps

Elon Musk accused Apple on Monday of favouring OpenAI over rivals in its App Store rankings, calling the alleged bias an “unequivocal antitrust violation” and vowing that his artificial intelligence company, xAI, will take “immediate legal action.”

“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store,” Musk wrote in a post on X, the social media platform he owns.

Grok, xAI’s flagship AI model, currently sits at sixth position among the iPhone’s “Top Free Apps” in the US, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT app holds the top spot.

In a separate post, Grok claimed Apple’s “App Store curation appears biased” and accused the tech giant of favouring “established AI like ChatGPT” over newer competitors.

Grok suggested Apple’s editorial picks may reflect “caution toward xAI’s unfiltered style” but said such decisions “stifle competition.”

Neither Musk nor xAI provided evidence to support the claims.

The dispute comes as xAI pushes to expand Grok’s reach. On Sunday, the company announced it is making Grok 4, the latest version of its AI model, free for all users worldwide “for a limited time,” with higher usage limits than before.

Previously, Grok 4 was restricted to paying subscribers under the SuperGrok and X Premium plans.

Access to Grok 4 Heavy, a more powerful variant, remains limited to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers. Last week, xAI also introduced a free AI video generation feature, Grok Imagine, for users in the United States.

The moves appear aimed at expanding xAI’s user base just days after OpenAI released its own new model, GPT-5, also free to all users globally.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015 but left the company in 2018, has been a vocal critic of its current direction. In February, a Musk-led consortium — including his AI firm xAI, Baron Capital Group, Emanuel Capital and others — offered to acquire the nonprofit entity controlling OpenAI.

Altman swiftly rejected the bid, quipping on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”