Elon Musk is picking another fight with Apple, and this time he's bringing lawyers. The billionaire tech CEO is threatening antitrust action against the iPhone maker, claiming Apple's App Store rankings unfairly favor OpenAI's ChatGPT while suppressing his xAI's Grok chatbot.
The battle kicked off Monday night when Musk posted on X that Grok was sitting at fifth place in the App Store's top free apps, while ChatGPT held the number one spot. "This is unequivocal antitrust violation," Musk posted on X, vowing that xAI would take "immediate legal action."
But Musk might actually have a point here, even if he's making it in his typical bombastic style. The real issue isn't just about app rankings.
It's about who controls AI distribution on the world's biggest app platform. Apple's 30% cut of in-app purchases already gives them enormous power over the AI market.
If they're also manipulating search rankings to favor certain AI companies over others, we're looking at serious antitrust territory.
Thing is, Apple's App Store algorithms have always been a black box. Nobody outside Cupertino really knows how they decide which apps get prime placement.
That opacity worked fine when we were talking about casual games and photo filters. But with AI becoming the next major computing platform, those ranking decisions carry a lot more weight.
From developers' perspective, this is a nightmare. Building AI products is already expensive enough without having to worry about arbitrary App Store politics.
The AI startup community is watching this fight closely, concerned they could be next to get buried in the rankings if they don't play by Apple's unwritten rules.
Credit where it's due, Apple has generally maintained decent standards for their App Store. But their track record with AI has been mixed at best.
Remember when Siri was supposed to be revolutionary? Yeah, that worked out great. And now Apple's own next-generation Siri upgrade has been delayed until 2026, according to reports.
Apple did announce Apple Intelligence last year, partnering with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs. But the most promising features keep getting pushed back.
The partnership with OpenAI makes this fight even more interesting. Having their partner's app dominating the App Store rankings while potential rivals struggle to gain visibility raises obvious questions.
Here's what's likely to happen: Apple will make some minor tweaks to their ranking system, claim it was all just algorithmic coincidence, and hope this blows over. Musk will declare victory and move on to his next crusade. But the underlying issue of App Store power over AI distribution isn't going anywhere.
For regular users, this fight matters more than it might seem. App Store rankings heavily influence which AI tools most people end up using. If Apple's putting their thumb on the scale, they're effectively choosing winners and losers in the AI race. And that's not a decision that should be made behind closed doors in Cupertino.
