• Elon Musk's companies xAI and X have filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI in Texas federal court.
• The lawsuit accuses the tech giants of forming a monopolistic partnership to stifle competition.
• Musk claims that Apple's integration of OpenAI's ChatGPT on iPhones restricts other AI services, including xAI's Grok.
• The lawsuit seeks billions in damages and aims for a permanent injunction against the alleged practices.
• OpenAI has labeled the legal action as part of Musk’s "ongoing pattern of harassment."

Elon Musk's companies, X and xAI, have initiated a legal battle against Apple and OpenAI in U.S. federal court in Texas, alleging that the two tech giants engaged in an "anticompetitive scheme" designed to stifle competition in the artificial intelligence market. The lawsuit asserts that Apple and OpenAI have formed an illegal partnership that gives OpenAI's ChatGPT exclusive access to Apple's devices, thus preventing other AI products, such as xAI's Grok, from thriving in the market, according to Business Insider and Dawn.

The 61-page complaint claims that Apple's decision to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT into its operating system effectively makes it the only generative AI chatbot available to iPhone users, an arrangement that the lawsuit argues harms competition. The document describes this as a tactic by two "monopolists" to maintain their dominance by limiting consumer choice and innovation, as reported by India Times and Reuters.

Musk's lawsuit, which seeks substantial monetary damages and a court order to stop the alleged anti-competitive practices, emphasizes that Apple's integration of ChatGPT into devices excludes the features of competing AI chatbots, significantly limiting market options for consumers. Such actions are said to have allowed OpenAI to gather valuable usage data from millions of users, further compounding its market advantage, according to South China Morning Post and BBC.

OpenAI's response to the lawsuit has been to characterize it as part of Musk's ongoing pattern of harassment, particularly referencing their contentious history dating back to Musk's departure from OpenAI in 2018. A spokesperson for OpenAI remarked that this litigation echoes Musk's previous allegations and lawsuits involving their operations, asserting that the company operates in a manner aimed at fostering competition instead of suppressing it, as stated by ABC News and CBS News.