Billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday that his artificial intelligence company, Xai, will take legal steps against Apple and the iPhone maker accuses the violation of antitrust laws in the way it manages the ranking of App Store.
“Apple behaves in a way that makes it impossible for each AI company to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unambiguous violation of antitrust. Xai will take legal steps immediately,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X.
Musk did not provide any evidence to support his claim. Apple, OpenAi and Xai did not immediately respond to Reuters’s requests for comment.
Chatgpt currently has the top position in the “Top Free Apps” section of the app store for iPhones in the US, while Xai’s Grok is in fifth place and Google’s Gemini Chatbot is 57th.
Chatgpt also leads the ranking in the Google Play Store, according to data from the sensor tower.
Apple has a partnership with OpenAI that integrates Chatgpt in iPhones, iPads and Macs.
“Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to place X or grock in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 under all apps? Do you play politics?” Said Musk in an earlier post Monday.
Musk’s comments come when supervisors and rivals intensify the control of Apple’s control over the App Store.
In April, an American judge ruled that Apple violated a judicial order in which it had to allow a greater competition in its App Store and refer the company to federal public prosecutors for a criminal minute investigation, in a case that is brought by ‘Fortnite’ Maker Epic Games.
Apple received a fine of 500 million euros in April ($ 587 million).
