Apple is denying that it favors OpenAI in its App Store over other AI rivals.
“We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria,” an Apple spokesperson tells the BBC, adding that the App Store is designed to be unbiased.
The statement comes after Elon Musk tweeted that “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation.” He said his AI startup, xAI, “will take immediate legal action.” (It’s unclear if xAI has taken any legal action yet.)
Musk then reposted various claims from other X users that Apple’s deal with OpenAI is the reason the company is prioritizing ChatGPT across its App Store.
He also claimed Apple is prioritizing OpenAI in its editorially controlled content. “Hey @Apple App Store, 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?” he wrote. He followed it up by asking directly, “Why is ChatGPT literally in every list where you have editorial control?”
His original tweet has since received the Community Notes treatment, with X users noting that China’s DeepSeek topped the App Store in January, while Perplexity did the same in India’s app store last month. “Both of these occurred after the OpenAI-Apple partnership [was] announced on June 10, 2024,” the community note adds.
As of Aug. 13, Apple’s top free iPhone apps in the US show ChatGPT in the top spot with Grok in position six. The next AI service is Google Gemini at 45, followed by Microsoft 365 Copilot at 82.
The debate has since devolved into an internet fight between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who stepped into the debate by tweeting: “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”
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Altman points to claims of Musk tweaking X’s algorithm in 2023. He cited a report from Platformer that says Musk asked the brand to show his tweets more regularly after President Biden’s post about that year’s Super Bowl did better than his.
Musk responded with: “You got 3M views on your bullshit post, you liar, far more than I’ve received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!”
Musk also publicly agreed with X’s Head of Product, who responded to Altman, saying, “Perhaps it is you who is manipulating your products to your benefit, by putting warnings on every link to a competitor?” He then showed a screenshot of ChatGPT’s warning message for external links.
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The fight continued for hours, with the official ChatGPT X account eventually reposting a response from xAI’s Grok that said, “Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes. Hypocrisy noted.”
Musk followed that up by posting a Grok screenshot of his own, which showed the chatbot determining that Musk is more trustworthy than Altman. Real mature stuff that I’m sure Apple is thrilled to be dragged into.
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Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
About James Peckham
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