Musk Challenges Tech’s New Power Couple: Apple and OpenAI

The tech industry’s new power couple, Apple and OpenAI, is facing its first major legal challenge. Elon Musk’s xAI has filed a lawsuit targeting their celebrated partnership, accusing the pair of forming an illegal union designed to monopolize the AI landscape and smartphone market. This action seeks to force a breakup.
The lawsuit claims their collaboration is an “unlawful agreement” that unfairly leverages Apple’s market dominance to entrench OpenAI’s position. By integrating ChatGPT so deeply into the iOS ecosystem, Musk argues, they are creating a closed-off market that makes it impossible for other AI companies to compete, a direct harm to his own xAI venture.
This legal assault comes at a time when the Apple-OpenAI alliance is seen as a cornerstone of both companies’ future strategies. For Apple, it’s a key to catching up in the AI race. For OpenAI, it provides unparalleled distribution. Musk’s lawsuit threatens to unravel this mutually beneficial, and allegedly illegal, arrangement.
OpenAI has fired back, portraying Musk as a bitter ex-partner trying to spoil their success. The company characterized the lawsuit as part of an “ongoing pattern of harassment.” This legal battle will be a critical test of whether the powerful alliances shaping the AI era can withstand antitrust scrutiny.