Overview

• Musk claims Apple’s App Store chart and recommendation systems block competitors like xAI’s Grok from topping rankings and threatens an antitrust lawsuit
• Altman countered on X by accusing Musk of directing algorithm changes to favor his ventures and demanded he sign an affidavit denying interference
• Apple released a statement affirming that its charts, algorithmic recommendations and curated lists are based on objective expert criteria
• xAI has suffered recent departures of co-founder Igor Babuschkin and legal head Robert Keele following controversies over Grok’s outputs
• Their rivalry continues to play out through ongoing Musk–OpenAI litigation with a jury trial set for 2026 and rival projects spanning AI, brain–computer interfaces, social media and autonomous vehicle technology