Musk accuses Apple of favouring ChatGPT: "Are you playing politics?"

"Hey Apple Store, why do you refuse to put X or Grok in your 'Unmissables' section when X is the number one news app in the world and Grok is fifth among all apps? Are you playing politics? How so? Inquiring minds want to know,' Elon Musk entrusted yet another offensive against a Silicon Valley giant to a long polemical post on his X platform. This time the target is Apple, accused of paving the way for ChatGPT's OpenAI in the App Store and obstructing competing apps, starting with Grok, developed by his own company xAI.

For Musk, this is a 'blatant violation of antitrust rules'. The issue, he claims, is the exclusion of his apps from the 'Must Have' section of the digital store, despite the fact that - according to him - X is 'the number one news app in the world' and Grok occupies fifth place in the overall ranking. "Apple makes it impossible for any AI company other than OpenAI to reach the top," he attacked, announcing that legal action was imminent.

The clash explodes just a few months after the announcement of the strategic partnership between Apple and OpenAI, which will bring ChatGPT integrated on iPhones, Macs and iPads. An agreement seen by Musk as a move that distorts the market in favour of a single artificial intelligence provider.

The official App Store rankings, however, tell a different story: at the top is TikTok, followed by Tinder, Duolingo, YouTube and Bumble. ChatGPT is in seventh place, while Grok's position in the overall rankings is not confirmed.

Apple has glossed over this. But the Californian giant has already had to deal with the antitrust issue: in February, the European Commission fined it EUR 500 million for competition violations, and in the US, a federal judge ruled that it had violated an injunction in a case brought by Epic Games. Also for this reason, the possible litigation with Musk could end up under the lens not only of American and European authorities, but also of other regulators globally.