Apple today responded to Elon Musk’s claims that the App Store favors OpenAI’s ChatGPT app, telling Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman that the App Store is “fair and free of bias.”
The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias. 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.
Yesterday, Musk threatened to sue Apple, and claimed that the company was violating antitrust rules by favoring ChatGPT over other AI apps like Grok. “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. xAI will take immediate legal action,” Musk said.
Musk did not provide any evidence or further information on Apple’s alleged antitrust violations, but he seems to have missed that AI app DeepSeek hit number one on the App Store charts earlier this year. ChatGPT continues to be in the number one position on the free apps chart, with Grok in the number five spot. X is number 32.
Musk also claimed that Apple “refuses” to put the X or Grok apps in the App Store’s “Must Have” section, where ChatGPT is listed. Grok has recently been updated with adult-themed content that includes celebrity deepfakes, and it regularly makes headlines for its questionable Musk-guided responses to queries.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk’s claims of Apple favoritism by pointing out that Musk has manipulated X algorithms to benefit himself and his companies.
Apple is already facing an antitrust lawsuit levied by the U.S. Department of Justice, and it is still appealing a recent ruling in the Apple vs. Epic Games lawsuit that required major App Store changes.
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