Y’ALL. Elon Musk just went full nuclear on Apple and OpenAI with a lawsuit—and honestly? The drama is delicious.
Here’s the tea: Musk’s X Corp. and xAI are accusing Apple and OpenAI of building a fortress around ChatGPT on iPhones, basically locking the gates and tossing the keys. He’s calling it a monopoly move that makes it almost impossible for rivals (like his Grok chatbot) to compete.
And the receipts? They’re wild:
Apple’s new Apple Intelligence makes ChatGPT the default AI on iPhones, —and according to Musk, that’s like slapping a giant “USE THIS ONE” sticker on ChatGPT and shutting the door on everyone else.
The App Store? Rigged, apparently. Musk claims OpenAI gets special treatment, pointing out that ChatGPT was the only chatbot featured in the “Must-Have Apps” section on August 24. Grok? Yeah, never heard of her.
This deal, Musk argues, builds a “monopoly moat”——because when you funnel billions of user prompts straight from iPhones into OpenAI’s system, you’re basically handing them the cheat codes to the AI game.
And FYI: Musk’s been fuming about this for weeks, even calling Apple’s App Store an “unequivocal antitrust violation.” Now, he’s letting the lawyers cook.
Here’s the thing though: this isn’t just a Musk vs. OpenAI spat; it’s a battle over AI distribution and who gets to control the pipelines, especially on devices as omnipresent as the iPhone. And right now, Musk’s framing it like a two-player AI oligarchy rigging the field.
Our Take:
Let’s keep it real: this “monopoly” narrative cuts both ways.
Grok already enjoys a built-in advantage across X. Same way Meta’s Meta AI dominates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp by default. Seriously, it’s hard to feel too bad for Musk when his own chatbot has home-court advantage across his entire social empire.
In fact, OpenAI has arguably been at a disadvantage here, so getting ChatGPT onto one of the hottest smartphones on the planet isn’t villainy—it’s smart strategy.
That context also explains why OpenAI is reportedly exploring its own social media platform– because without distribution, even the best AI risks irrelevance, and let’s not even talk about the data advantages.
And yes, Musk might not be sweating monopoly fears for long — rumors suggest Apple could bring Google’s Gemini into its AI lineup soon, turning that so-called “monopoly moat” into a shared pool in no time.
At its core, this isn’t about who’s “right.” It’s about tech giants scrambling to own the user funnel. Musk is suing to stall Apple + OpenAI’s rise, while OpenAI is hustling to catch up with companies that already have distribution baked into their DNA.
Bottom line: This is the AI equivalent of a land grab. And Musk? He’s making sure nobody builds castles without him.
Here’s the full report.
