Elon Musk accusing someone else of monopolistic favoritism? Now there’s a laugh. Yet here we are: Musk is blasting Apple for supposedly favoring OpenAI’s ChatGPT on the App Store – all while he runs X, a social platform notoriously tweaked to boost his own ventures. The irony dial is cranked up to 11. Musk’s AI startup xAI claims Apple is effectively “making it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store”, an act he decries as “an unequivocal antitrust violation”. This from the man who reportedly had X’s algorithm rewritten to amplify his tweets. Pot, meet kettle.
Monopolies for Me, But Not for Thee?
Musk’s tirade began on X, where he threatened to drag Apple to court over ChatGPT’s supreme reign atop the iPhone App Store. ChatGPT currently sits at #1 in Apple’s “Top Free Apps” for iPhone in the U.S., while xAI’s own chatbot Grok is down at #5. To hear Musk tell it, Apple “didn’t just put their thumb on the scale, they put their whole body!” in favor of OpenAI’s bot. He even publicly asked Apple’s App Store team, “Why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps? Are you playing politics?”. In Musk’s view, Apple is practically gift-wrapping the market for OpenAI and smothering rivals before they can catch up.
Of course, Musk is no stranger to leverage and favoritism when it suits him. This is the same billionaire who gleefully charges competitors to access X’s API and has been known to throttle links to rival platforms on his own site. And let’s not forget reports that Musk manipulated X’s algorithms to prioritize his posts after throwing a fit over low engagement. So when Musk cries foul about a big player tilting the playing field, forgive the tech world for rolling its collective eyes. Is it a genuine complaint or just sour grapes that someone else’s walled garden is higher than his?
Apple: Benevolent Gatekeeper or Accidental Kingmaker?
Meanwhile in Cupertino, Apple is playing the role of AI virtue arbiter – at least in its own narrative. The company loves to tout its “curated” App Store and privacy-first principles, positioning itself as a benevolent gatekeeper keeping users safe from sketchy apps. In this drama, Apple paints itself as simply making a responsible choice: highlighting ChatGPT as a trusted AI assistant for iPhone users. By Apple’s account, it’s pure coincidence that this decision also ‘accidentally’ made ChatGPT a household name. (Oops! Did we just pre-install the most popular chatbot on hundreds of millions of devices?) In truth, Apple has been deepening its integration with OpenAI – embedding ChatGPT into iOS and spotlighting it in several user-facing features. There’s even an official partnership: ChatGPT’s tech is now woven into iPhones, iPads, and Macs at the system level.
Think about that: one tap in iOS Settings and suddenly Siri has a ChatGPT on speed-dial. Apple didn’t have to call it favoritism; they call it a feature. The ChatGPT iOS app skyrocketed to the top of download charts in part because Apple featured it everywhere, from App Store banners to built-in “Intelligence” settings. Apple’s PR would have you believe this was all in the name of user experience. Sure – and if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Cupertino to sell you. By “curating” ChatGPT as the chosen one, Apple essentially anointed OpenAI as the de facto AI for everyday users, long before any competitor could dream of such exposure. Benevolent gatekeeping, indeed.
Sam Altman’s Offended Routine (Pass the Popcorn)
Enter Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, performing his best impression of shocked and appalled. Upon Musk’s accusations, Altman leapt to Apple’s defense with theatrical flair – and not a little self-interest. He fired back on X, calling Musk’s claim “remarkable” given the allegations of how Elon runs X to “benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors”. In other words: Elon, you’re accusing Apple of rigging the game? Buddy, look in the mirror. Altman even shared an article detailing how Musk allegedly tweaked X’s algorithm to boost his posts, twisting the knife with a polite smile.
Let’s be clear: Altman’s public outrage is as self-serving as it is performative. Of course he’s defending Apple – Apple just so happens to be turbocharging his product’s adoption. OpenAI’s CEO, by all appearances, is “offended” that Musk would undermine the integrity of Apple’s curation. But one imagines he’s privately popping champagne. Altman was quick to declare that OpenAI will just stay “focused on making great products” – a saintly shrug amid the mudslinging. How convenient, considering those great products are currently enjoying front-page App Store billing courtesy of Apple. His moral high ground act pairs nicely with the fact that OpenAI’s success is being turbocharged by big platform deals (Microsoft’s billions and Apple’s distribution, to name a couple). Altman gets to appear above the fray while his company quietly cashes in on all that extra iPhone screen time. Bravo, Sam – your virtuous defender pose deserves a round of applause (and maybe an Oscar).
Everyone’s a Hypocrite, No One’s Surprised
Strip away the Twitter theatrics and blog statements, and what do we have? A trifecta of tech titans each claiming the other guy is being unfair, while all three are guilty of playing the same game:
- Elon Musk: Complaining about monopolistic behavior and “antitrust violations” even as he runs a pretty monopolistic attention economy on X. Musk rails that Apple favors closed systems and secret deals – yet xAI’s flagship Grok AI is itself a black box, totally opaque in its workings (so much for the champion of “open” AI). Musk famously co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit to democratize AI, then left when it didn’t follow his vision, only to start xAI which thus far is about as transparent as a brick wall. And while Musk whines that Apple buries competitors, let’s not ignore how X under his watch buries or throttles content Musk dislikes. The hypocrisy is rich enough to make a gold-plated Tesla blush.
- Apple: Polishing its halo as the neutral platform curator, insisting that any App Store favoritism is just an outcome of quality and user trust. Tim Cook’s company hides behind “editorial curation” – implying ChatGPT naturally earned its featured spot – when in reality Apple knows perfectly well the power it wields. This is the same App Store that has been caught in antitrust battles for favoring its own services and squeezing partners. Now Apple wants us to believe that preloading an AI app and plastering it in promotional banners isn’t picking a winner? Please. By “curating” which AI apps get prime placement, Apple effectively decides who gets to scale and who gets buried. It’s gatekeeping, plain and simple, dressed up as a public service.
- Sam Altman / OpenAI: Acting as though OpenAI’s dominance is just a reward for building a better mousetrap, unsullied by any special deals. In truth, OpenAI has been supercharged by partnership largesse. Microsoft dumped $10 billion into OpenAI and made ChatGPT integrations ubiquitous across Windows and Office. Now Apple is integrating ChatGPT at the OS level on iPhones. OpenAI didn’t win a fair fight; it’s being handed the keys to the kingdom by platform giants. Yet Altman pretends his company is simply rising on merit, while taking potshots at Musk’s ethics. The reality: OpenAI dropped its original nonprofit ideals to become a for-profit juggernaut tied at the hip to Big Tech – something even Musk himself sued over in 2024. Altman’s indignation would carry more weight if OpenAI weren’t gladly benefiting from the very closed-door alliances he’d prefer not to acknowledge.
In short, no one in this feud has clean hands. Each is accusing the others of the very sins they commit when nobody’s looking. It’s a circular firing squad of hypocrisy, and it would be downright comedic if the stakes weren’t so high.
One Default to Rule Them All?
Behind all the finger-pointing lies a stark truth: the real battle is for AI dominance on the default platforms of our lives. What’s at stake here isn’t just App Store rankings – it’s who becomes the go-to AI assistant for hundreds of millions of people by default. If Apple effectively sets ChatGPT as the default AI on every iPhone and iPad, that could flatten the entire market before it even matures. History tells us that being the default choice is half the war won. (How do you think Google remains the king of search? Being the default on iPhones and Safari certainly doesn’t hurt.)
Musk knows this perfectly well. His sudden antitrust crusade is not just about fairness – it’s about survival. If xAI’s Grok is relegated to second fiddle on iOS, it might never gain the critical mass needed to compete. The same goes for any would-be rival; they could be DOA if Apple keeps funneling the masses to one favored app. For Apple, picking a default AI partner (for now OpenAI) lets it shape the user experience and keep control. For OpenAI, it’s the golden ticket to ubiquity – an instant audience that startups like xAI or even giants like Google’s Bard can only dream of capturing overnight.
So yes, Musk’s ranting about “monopoly” has a kernel of truth: if one company’s AI becomes entrenched as the Apple-approved option, innovation and competition might suffer. Of course, Musk frames it as Apple kneecapping everyone except OpenAI – conveniently aligning with his personal stake. But the concern of one gatekeeper deciding the AI winner does deserve attention, despite the eye-roll-inducing messenger delivering it.
Just Call It “AppleGPT” and Be Done With It
As this tech soap opera unfolds with darkly comic predictability, one has to ask: where does it end? Musk will keep howling about bias (between launching rockets and posting memes), Apple will maintain its sanctimonious silence while quietly locking in its favorite AI, and Sam Altman will tweet piously about focusing on products – all while watching his user base swell thanks to distribution deals. The rest of us get a front-row seat to the hypocrisy Olympics, but not much say in the outcome.
Perhaps the simplest solution is for Apple to drop the charade altogether. If Cupertino is effectively going to choose the winning chatbot for us, why not lean in completely? Maybe next year’s iOS update can just be called “AppleGPT” and spare us the drama. Roll it out with a shiny logo, declare it the seamless AI companion baked into every device, and let the tech titans duke it out elsewhere. At least then we’d all know exactly where everyone stands – and who really runs the show in this three-way circus of Musk vs. Apple vs. OpenAI.