Apple has denied allegations that it undermined AI, noting that its decision to choose OpenAI over xAI was a fair call. In a recent lawsuit filed in August, Elon Musk’s AI firm and X Corp. claimed that Apple has unfairly picked OpenAI, arguing that the move slowed innovation and left some users with fewer alternatives.
However, in the court papers that Apple filed on Tuesday, the company countered that its choice of OpenAI has nothing to do with exclusivity, as it intends to work with other generative AI partners in the future. Elon Musk’s firms are seeking billions of dollars in damages in their lawsuit against Apple, arguing that its partnership with OpenAI undermines competition.
Apple denies allegations of undermining competition
In his claims, Elon Musk mentioned that the arrangement “locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing.” He also added that their partnership guaranteed that ChatGPT retained the top spot in App Store rankings, denying other applications the same visibility. Meanwhile, OpenAI has dismissed the claims, saying that the filing is a typical form of Musk’s harassment pattern.
Apple has also urged the court in Fort Worth, Texas, to throw out the case, noting that it rests on nothing but layered speculation. In its defense, the company’s legal team claimed that X Corp. was advocating for an all-or-nothing approach to AI partnerships regardless of business or technical considerations, an obligation they argued the antitrust law does not impose. “Of course, the antitrust laws do not require that,” they said.
In another lawsuit, Musk accused OpenAI of stealing its trade secrets. The suit mentioned that OpenAI recruited former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets linked to Grok, especially those with knowledge of their bot’s source code, a move he says tilts the AI playing field. Musk accused OpenAI of trying to gain an unfair advantage in the race to develop AI technology.
xAI also claimed that the suspected campaign surfaced while it was examining accusations against ex-employee Xuechen Li, charged in another case with passing information to OpenAI. The company also stated that OpenAI hired Jimmy Fraiture, a former engineer, alongside Li. Their complaint also includes a screenshot of an email that Alex Spiro, Musk’s lawyer, sent in July, accusing a former executive of failing to uphold confidentiality obligations.
OpenAI has, however, insisted that they have no “tolerance for any breaches of confidentiality, nor any interest in trade secrets from other labs.” Musk’s legal actions against the AI giant are the latest chapter in his bitter dispute with Altman, which intensified as ChatGPT creator grew in power. At one point, Musk even sought to block the company’s conversion into a for-profit entity.
