Sam Altman Fires Back at Elon Musk Over Apple App Store Bias Claims, Accuses Musk of Rigging X for Self-Promotion

 The simmering rivalry between two of the world’s most high-profile tech leaders — Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, CEO of xAI and owner of X (formerly Twitter) — has boiled over into a public war of words. The latest clash centers on allegations of bias in Apple’s App Store rankings, with Musk accusing Apple of unfairly favoring ChatGPT, and Altman firing back with accusations of hypocrisy and manipulation.

The controversy began when Musk took to X to claim that Apple’s App Store policies make it “impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1.” Pointing to ChatGPT’s consistent position at the top of the “Top Free Apps” chart in the U.S., Musk suggested that Apple’s ranking system was rigged in favor of its recent AI partner — OpenAI.

Musk’s Allegations Against Apple

In his posts, Musk asserted that Apple’s actions amounted to an “unequivocal antitrust violation” and promised swift legal action. He also questioned why X and his AI chatbot Grok — despite their high rankings in certain categories — were left out of Apple’s “Must Have” app section.

“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? Are you playing politics?” Musk wrote.

According to Sensor Tower data, Grok currently sits at #5 on the U.S. App Store’s overall rankings, while Google’s Gemini trails far behind at #57. Still, Musk claims his app’s visibility is being deliberately limited, implying that Apple’s recent integration of ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs has created an uneven playing field.




Altman’s Sharp Rebuttal

Sam Altman didn’t let the accusations go unanswered. In a pointed reply on X, the OpenAI chief described Musk’s claims as “remarkable” — especially given, in Altman’s words, what he has “heard alleged” about Musk’s own practices on X.

“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,” Altman wrote.

He linked to an article titled “Yes, Elon Musk created a special system for showing you all his tweets first,” which detailed claims that Musk ordered changes to X’s recommendation algorithms to give disproportionate visibility to his own posts.

Altman also hinted that Musk’s internal practices could come under scrutiny if the dispute escalates to court. “I hope someone will get counter-discovery on this — I and many others would love to know what’s been happening,” he added.

A Feud Years in the Making

The animosity between Musk and Altman is not new. Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015 but left the company in 2018 over disagreements about its direction. Since then, he has been an outspoken critic of OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its original non-profit mission and becoming overly commercialized.

In 2023, Musk launched xAI, positioned as a direct competitor to OpenAI. The company’s flagship chatbot, Grok, was integrated into X and marketed as a more humorous and rebellious alternative to ChatGPT.

The rivalry intensified in mid-2025 when Apple announced a landmark partnership with OpenAI to embed ChatGPT into its operating systems, granting it deep integration across Apple devices. The deal significantly boosted ChatGPT’s visibility and user adoption — and, according to Musk, tilted the playing field in OpenAI’s favor.

The Legal and Regulatory Backdrop

Musk’s accusations against Apple come at a time when the tech giant is already under intense regulatory scrutiny. In April 2025, the European Union fined Apple €500 million for violating competition rules by preventing app developers from directing users to cheaper alternatives outside the App Store.

Meanwhile, in the United States, a federal judge recently ruled that Apple had violated a court injunction from the Epic Games antitrust case, referring the matter for a criminal contempt inquiry. These developments have fueled public skepticism about Apple’s App Store practices, creating fertile ground for Musk’s latest claims.

However, Apple has yet to issue any public response to Musk’s allegations, and the company has historically defended its App Store curation as a mix of algorithmic ranking and editorial selection designed to surface quality and trustworthy apps for users.




Public Reaction: Polarizing Opinions

The spat has ignited intense debate on X, with users sharply divided. Supporters of Musk argue that Apple’s relationship with OpenAI creates an inherent conflict of interest. “If Apple is going to integrate ChatGPT into their OS, how can they pretend their app rankings are fair?” one user asked.

Others sided with Altman, pointing to the irony in Musk’s complaints. “Who’s going to tell Elon that GPT-5 is 10X better than Grok?” another user joked. One commenter quipped, “Lol, how is this where we’ve arrived… all the people controlling our data suing each other over who gets more access to our data… for free.”

The discourse also revived long-standing criticisms of Musk’s stewardship of X, with some accusing him of weaponizing the platform’s algorithms to suppress critics and promote his own ventures.

The Stakes for AI’s Big Players

While the feud may seem personal, the underlying battle is about AI market dominance. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has maintained a commanding lead in public adoption, aided by rapid improvements such as the GPT-5 model and partnerships with major hardware players like Apple.

Musk’s Grok, though growing in popularity, has yet to match ChatGPT’s scale or perception as a reliable AI assistant. The recent rollout of Grok 4 and the decision to make its Imagine feature free for all users have boosted downloads, but the App Store gap remains significant.

For Google’s Gemini, which ranks much lower, the Musk-Altman spat may simply be a sideshow to its own battle to stay relevant in a crowded market.

What Happens Next?

If Musk follows through on his threat of legal action against Apple, the case could become a high-profile test of App Store neutrality and its intersection with AI integration deals. Such litigation could also open the door to deeper scrutiny of X’s internal algorithms — exactly the “counter-discovery” Altman appeared to welcome.

Industry analysts note that while both Musk and Altman are framing the fight as a matter of fairness and transparency, both stand to gain strategically from the publicity. Musk can position himself as the underdog fighting Big Tech gatekeeping, while Altman can highlight his company’s mainstream adoption and push back against what he sees as bad-faith attacks.

For Apple, the worst-case scenario would be simultaneous legal challenges in both the U.S. and Europe — especially if regulators interpret exclusive AI partnerships as an extension of anti-competitive behavior.

Conclusion

The Musk–Altman showdown is more than just a Twitter spat. It encapsulates the power struggles, corporate alliances, and ethical questions shaping the future of artificial intelligence. As AI becomes a core part of consumer technology, the control over distribution platforms like the App Store could prove as decisive as the AI models themselves.

For now, the tech world is watching — not just to see whether Musk will sue Apple, but also to find out whether this high-profile clash will pull back the curtain on how two of the most influential platforms in the world — Apple’s App Store and Musk’s X — actually decide what billions of people see first.

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