Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI in the US, accusing them of anti-competitive practices tied to ChatGPT’s integration into iPhones.

The suit claims Apple’s 2024 agreement with OpenAI to embed ChatGPT into Siri and other features gave OpenAI “exclusive access” to billions of potential user prompts, making it the only generative AI chatbot with a first-party iPhone integration. According to xAI, this arrangement unfairly shuts out rival products and prevents consumers from having a choice of AI assistants on Apple devices.

The complaint goes further, alleging Apple has actively manipulated its App Store by delaying updates and altering rankings to disadvantage Grok, xAI’s competing chatbot. It also claims Apple has failed to innovate meaningfully in AI, pointing to the difficulties surrounding its Apple Intelligence system rollout.

The lawsuit intensifies the growing rivalry between Musk and OpenAI, the company he co-founded in 2015 but left three years later. OpenAI’s meteoric rise with ChatGPT has since made it the dominant player in the consumer AI market, and Musk has long accused the company of abandoning its original non-profit mission. Earlier this year, he attempted to acquire OpenAI’s core assets, but his offer was rejected.

For Apple, the case highlights a recurring theme: accusations of protecting its iPhone ecosystem at the expense of competition. The US Justice Department is already pursuing its own antitrust case against the tech giant, alleging that it has systematically blocked the development of “super apps” that could reduce dependence on Apple’s own services. xAI’s lawsuit borrows heavily from those claims, arguing that Apple is using its dominance to control how AI is integrated into smartphones.

Apple has previously said it intends to work with more chatbot providers, including Google, but no additional partnerships have been confirmed since ChatGPT’s integration launched last December. Meanwhile, OpenAI maintains that the lawsuit is consistent with what it calls Musk’s ongoing campaign of attacks against the company.

The dispute also builds on Musk’s past clashes with Apple. In 2022 he accused the company of threatening to pull Twitter (now X) from the App Store, and in 2023 publicly criticised its 30% commission on in-app purchases. Relations briefly stabilised after a personal meeting with Tim Cook, but tensions reignited when Apple paused advertising on X later that year.

With the latest suit, Musk is attempting to reposition xAI and Grok as challengers to ChatGPT’s dominance, while also drawing attention to what he argues is Apple’s gatekeeping role in the AI ecosystem. The outcome could have major implications not just for Musk and his rivals, but for how generative AI tools are integrated into the world’s most widely used consumer devices.