Apple has rejected accusations from Elon Musk that its App Retailer stifles competiton, insisting it’s “designed to be free and honest of bias.”
X proprietor Musk has threatened Apple with authorized motion after claiming it had made it “unattainable” for apps to compete with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI within the retailer
He additionally referred to as OpenAI boss Sam Altman a “liar” – after Altman claimed Musk used his platform to “profit himself and his personal corporations”.
The row is the most recent flashpoint in what’s an ongoing feud between the billionaires who co-founded OpenAI – however now fiercely compete after Musk left the agency.
Apple introduced a partnership with ChatGPT in June 2024 – however there is no such thing as a suggestion Apple favours one app over the opposite, and several other rival AI apps reminiscent of DeepSeek and Perplexity have topped the App Retailer charts since then.
In an announcement despatched to the BBC, Apple stated: “We function 1000’s of apps by way of charts, algorithmic suggestions and curated lists chosen by consultants utilizing goal standards.”
In a later put up Musk took goal at Apple once more, asking the agency why it will not promote X – or its AI app Grok – within the “Should Have” part of the App Retailer.
“X is the #1 information app on this planet and Grok is #5 amongst all apps,” he said in a post now pinned to his X profile.
ChatGPT is presently essentially the most downloaded free app within the UK, with Grok an in depth third. X doesn’t make the highest 40.
This appeared to attract the eye of Altman, who linked to a report by tech publication Platformer which claimed Musk had made his personal private X posts extra outstanding in individuals’s feeds.
The feud between Musk and Altman has, over time, encompassed a slew of lawsuits, electronic mail dumps and social media digs.
Their rivalry might be traced again a decade, with Musk’s now public perception that OpenAI, below Altman’s management, deserted the rules he and others used to discovered it in 2015.
The agency was created with the intention of constructing synthetic normal intelligence (AGI) – AI that may carry out any process {that a} human being is able to – however by making its expertise open-source and promising to “profit humanity”.
OpenAI was additionally arrange as a not-for-profit firm, which means it will not goal to earn cash, however in 2019 it established a for-profit arm which Musk felt was antithetical to its unique mission.
Musk argued in his March 2024 lawsuit that the agency had as a substitute been specializing in “maximising earnings” for its main investor Microsoft.
And whereas he unexpectedly dropped his lawsuit final 12 months, OpenAI then filed a counter-suit towards him in April.
It claimed the X proprietor had engaged “continuous” in “bad-faith techniques” to try and slow down the company’s AI development.
OpenAI has additionally claimed Musk just isn’t motivated by preserving the corporate’s founding mission – however slightly by his “personal agenda”.
And the feud has not stopped at simply phrases and authorized motion. In February, Musk made a shock transfer to attempt to purchase the corporate for $100bn (£74bn) – a bid rejected by OpenAI’s board.
The BBC has approached Apple for remark.