Last night, Elon Musk took to X to complain about the fact that Apple never seems to feature either X or Grok on the App Store. He claimed the company was unfairly favoring ChatGPT, and said xAI would take “immediate legal action”. Today, Apple responded.
Apple highlights safety as a feature criteria
In a statement to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple said:
Musk’s claims came after he grew frustrated that, despite the X app topping the News chart yesterday, it never seemed to be featured on the App Store, apparently making it harder to climb the overall rankings.
Likewise, over the past few days, and despite launching new features and making Grok 4 free for all users, the Grok app only reached fifth place overall and second in the Productivity category.
By contrast, he claimed that Apple’s constant promotion of ChatGPT made it “impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store,” a claim quickly and easily debunked by xAI’s own Grok, following a heated exchange between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:
As for the lawsuit, despite Musk’s promise of “immediate legal action” by xAI, no suit appears to have been filed today.
Apple’s statement to Gurman suggests it’s taking the threat seriously, but its pointed use of the word “safe” is a not-so-subtle nod to Grok’s recent controversies (including antisemitic content and the release of sexualized companion chatbots), which may disqualify it as a recommendation-worthy app in the company’s view.
What did you think of Apple’s response to Musk’s threat? Let us know in the comments.
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