Apple denies Elon Musk's claims of OpenAI favoritism

Elon Musk made headlines earlier this week as he blamed Apple for favoring OpenAI and pushing ChatGPT to the top of the App Store Charts. Musk claimed that xAI "will take immediate legal action" in what he described as an antitrust violation.

Elon Musk's posts X.com

While there’s no official confirmation if xAI and Musk will follow with their claims, Apple issued an official response via Bloomberg (paywall), which denied any favoritism for OpenAI or any other app.

We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria.

Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories." – Apple official statement

Apple and OpenAI announced their strategic partnership at WWDC 24, which integrated ChatGPT into the Apple ecosystem. While there’s no monetary gain for either company outright, OpenAI did gain more exposure and ChatGPT is being promoted on the App Store.

Apple has previously confirmed that it plans to integrate AI models from Google and Anthropic into Apple Intelligence. Musk’s recent comments did not account for other AI apps like DeepSeek and Perplexity, which topped the App Store’s #1 overall list earlier this year.