Musk Drops Apple Fight Over ChatGPT Deal, Leaving OpenAI Alone in Court

Key points

• Elon Musk publicly attacked Apple's ChatGPT integration in 2024, calling it "creepy spyware" installed on users' iPhones.
• Musk filed a lawsuit claiming the Apple-OpenAI partnership gave both companies an illegal monopoly over what AI tools iPhone users could access.
• In August 2024, Musk alleged Apple was blocking his Grok chatbot from reaching the top of the App Store charts in violation of antitrust law.
• Apple has now exited the lawsuit, leaving OpenAI as the sole defendant, as first reported by Ars Technica.

Elon Musk spent the better part of a year treating Apple like a courtroom punching bag. Now the gloves are off, at least where Apple is concerned.

The feud started in 2024 when Apple announced it would weave ChatGPT directly into iPhone features. Musk called it a surveillance deal, claiming Apple was letting OpenAI plant "creepy spyware" on hundreds of millions of devices. Then he sued, arguing the partnership handed Apple and OpenAI a stranglehold on AI access for every iPhone owner, which he said broke competition law.

What was Musk actually angry about?

The lawsuit was partly about principle, partly about Grok. Grok is Musk's own AI chatbot, built by his company xAI, which competes directly with ChatGPT. We've tracked xAI and its rivals across 21 Grok stories since July, and the competitive tension between them has only sharpened.

In August 2024, Musk claimed Apple was making it "impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store," calling it an "unequivocal antitrust violation," meaning a clear breach of laws designed to stop companies from crushing competitors unfairly. The implication was plain: Grok was being quietly suppressed so ChatGPT could stay on top.

What does Apple walking away mean for ordinary iPhone users?

For now, not much changes in your pocket. Apple's deal with OpenAI stays intact, and ChatGPT remains baked into iPhone features. The legal pressure on that arrangement has eased considerably now that Apple's out of the case.

OpenAI still faces the suit alone, which means the core question, whether the Apple partnership illegally locked out rival chatbots, gets fought without the world's most valuable company in the room. That matters. Apple's exit weakens the "monopoly" framing at the heart of Musk's complaint. A duopoly argument is harder to make with only one defendant.

It's also worth pairing this with what OpenAI has been doing in Washington: our 10 September story found the company asking Congress whether coordinated AI slowdowns would break antitrust rules. A firm that's lobbying about antitrust exposure in one room is now defending against an antitrust suit in another. That's a tight corner.

For anyone who'd prefer a non-OpenAI assistant on their iPhone, the practical outcome depends on how the remaining case unfolds. Win for Musk, and Apple could face pressure to open the playing field. Loss, and the current setup is likely locked in for years.

My honest read: this was always as much a business rivalry as a legal strategy. Musk competes with OpenAI in fundraising, media attention, and government contracts. The courtroom's just another arena, and Apple, characteristically, found the exit before things got messier.

Common questions

Does this affect how ChatGPT works on my iPhone?

No. Apple's arrangement with OpenAI continues unchanged. The legal dispute involved how that deal was structured, not the day-to-day features you use.

What is the App Store antitrust argument in plain English?

Musk claimed Apple quietly favoured ChatGPT in its app rankings, making it harder for rival AI apps like Grok to get noticed. Antitrust law, the body of rules that stops companies from unfairly crushing competition, would be broken if that were proven true and deliberate.