Elon Musk criticized Apple on Monday night, accusing the company of stacking the App Store in OpenAI’s favour, specifically the promotion of the latter’s app ChatGPT.
“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,” Musk said. “Apple is the gateway to the Internet for half of America. They are making it impossible for any other AI company to succeed by relentlessly promoting OpenAI in every way possible!”
Musk said his AI company, xAI, will take “immediate legal action.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Apple responded in a statement to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, saying the App Store isn’t biased.
“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,” the company said to Gurman. “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 will be offering ChatGPT 5 integration into iOS 26, while it still struggles to make ground with Apple Intelligence.
Epic Games CEO, the leader of the company behind Fortnite, replied to Gurman’s post, directed with mention of the offical App Store account, saying, “Heya @AppStore, want to feature Fortnite?”.
Sweeney’s sarcastic response references Epic’s own ongoing disputes with Apple over App Store policies, particularly around payment systems and app distribution. Epic’s 2020 lawsuit against Apple, which challenged the company’s 30% commission on in-app purchases and restrictive policies, resulted in a mixed ruling in 2021. Sweeney’s is basically adding fuel to the fire, aligning with Musk.
Back in May 2025, Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store after a nearly five-year absence, following a landmark court ruling that forced Apple to allow developers to link to external payment systems, bypassing Apple’s 30% commission. A recent ruling also will see Fortnite return to the App Store in Australia.
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