On Monday, Elon Musk’s businesses xAI and X launched a broad US antitrust suit against Apple and OpenAI, claiming the tech behemoths conspired unlawfully to suppress competition in the smartphone and artificial intelligence sectors.
Apple and OpenAI are accused in the 61-page complaint, which was filed in a federal court in Texas, of entering into an exclusive agreement that prevents competitors like xAI’s Grok from using OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the only generative AI chatbot built into Apple’s iPhone operating system.
According to the lawsuit, “this is a story of two monopolists banding together to secure their ongoing domination in a world rapidly fueled by the most potent technology humanity has ever created: artificial intelligence.”
According to the plaintiffs, OpenAI owns at least 80% of the market for generative AI chatbots through ChatGPT, while Apple controls 65% of the US smartphone market.
In June 2024, Apple and OpenAI announced their collaboration, enabling ChatGPT to be the only AI helper available via Apple’s Siri voice assistant and other iPhone functionalities.
According to the lawsuit, this partnership grants ChatGPT unique access to hundreds of millions of iPhone users’ “billions of user prompts.” Additionally, the complaint alleges that Apple delayed the approval of upgrades for the Grok app while manipulating App Store rankings to favor ChatGPT.
Musk’s businesses are requesting a permanent order to halt the claimed anticompetitive acts, along with billions of dollars in damages. They have called for a trial by jury.
Requests for comment were not immediately answered by OpenAI or Apple.
The complaint comes after Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman got into a heated argument over threats Musk made earlier this month.
According to Altman, Musk “manipulates X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.” He called Musk’s charge of ranking manipulation “remarkable.”
During the heated debate, Musk referred to Altman as a “liar.”
Prior to Musk’s exit in 2018, both men were the original founders of OpenAI, and they currently have a very tense relationship. In 2023, Musk established xAI to take on OpenAI and other significant AI firms.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
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