Elon Musk’s X Corp and SpaceXAI drop antitrust lawsuit against Apple

The companies had accused Apple of favouring OpenAI’s ChatGPT over rival AI chatbots.

A fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks is parked at charging stations outside the SpaceX launch production facility in Starbase, Texas, the United States, July 20, 2026 [Steve Nesius/Reuters]

Elon Musk’s X Corp and SpaceXAI have dropped their antitrust lawsuit against Apple, ending a legal challenge that accused the iPhone maker of conspiring with OpenAI to shut rivals out of the generative artificial intelligence market.

The companies said in a court filing on Monday that they had moved to dismiss their claims against Apple. The filing did not give a reason for the decision or say whether the parties had reached a settlement.

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The lawsuit, filed in August 2025 in United States federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, accused Apple and OpenAI of violating US antitrust law through an agreement that made ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot integrated into Apple’s iPhone operating system.

X and SpaceXAI, which develops the Grok chatbot, argued that Apple’s arrangement gave ChatGPT access to billions of potential user prompts through features including Siri, Apple’s Writing Tools and the iPhone camera. They said the deal deprived competing AI companies of access to users and made it harder for rivals to build scale.

The companies also alleged that Apple disadvantaged competing AI chatbots through its App Store, including delaying app reviews and manipulating rankings.

In its complaint, X and SpaceXAI said Apple and OpenAI had effectively combined their positions in the smartphone and AI markets to reinforce each other’s dominance, accusing the defendants of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act and Texas antitrust law.

Apple and OpenAI separately sought to have the lawsuit dismissed last year. US District Judge Mark Pittman rejected both motions in November, allowing the case to proceed.

OpenAI accused Musk of waging a “campaign of lawfare” against the company in a court filing. Musk has pursued several legal challenges against OpenAI, including a separate lawsuit that alleged the company had abandoned its original mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity rather than for profit. OpenAI defeated that lawsuit in May.

X and SpaceXAI said on Monday that they would continue pursuing their claims against OpenAI, which remains a defendant in the case. They did not explain why they were abandoning their claims against Apple.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history in the months following its launch in late 2022.

这些公司指责苹果公司偏袒 OpenAI 的 ChatGPT，而不是竞争对手的 AI 聊天机器人。

2026年7月20日，在美国德克萨斯州星际基地（Starbase）的SpaceX发射生产设施外，一队特斯拉Cyber​​truck卡车停放在充电站。[史蒂夫·内修斯/路透社]

埃隆·马斯克的 X Corp 和 SpaceXAI 撤销了对苹果公司的反垄断诉讼，结束了这场指控这家 iPhone 制造商与 OpenAI 合谋将竞争对手排挤出生成式人工智能市场的法律挑战。

这些公司周一在一份法庭文件中表示，他们已提出撤销对苹果公司的诉讼请求。该文件没有说明撤销诉讼的理由，也没有说明双方是否已达成和解。

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该诉讼于 2025 年 8 月在美国德克萨斯州沃斯堡的联邦法院提起，指控苹果公司和 OpenAI 通过一项协议违反了美国反垄断法，该协议使 ChatGPT 成为唯一集成到苹果 iPhone 操作系统中的生成式 AI 聊天机器人。

X公司和SpaceXAI（Grok聊天机器人的开发商）认为，苹果的这项协议让ChatGPT能够通过Siri、苹果的写作工具和iPhone摄像头等功能获取数十亿潜在用户提示。他们表示，这项协议剥夺了其他人工智能公司接触用户的机会，并阻碍了竞争对手扩大规模。

这些公司还指控苹果公司通过其应用商店对竞争对手的人工智能聊天机器人进行不公平对待，包括延迟应用审核和操纵排名。

X 和 SpaceXAI 在诉状中称，苹果和 OpenAI 已有效地将它们在智能手机和人工智能市场的地位结合起来，以巩固彼此的主导地位，并指控被告违反了《谢尔曼反垄断法》和德克萨斯州反垄断法。

苹果和OpenAI去年分别提出驳回此案的动议。美国地区法官马克·皮特曼于11月驳回了这两项动议，允许案件继续审理。

OpenAI在一份法庭文件中指责马斯克对该公司发起“法律战”。马斯克曾多次对OpenAI提起诉讼，其中包括一项指控该公司背离其最初使命——开发人工智能造福人类而非以盈利为目的——的诉讼。OpenAI已于今年5月赢得了该诉讼。

X和SpaceXAI周一表示，他们将继续对OpenAI提起诉讼，OpenAI仍然是此案的被告之一。他们没有解释为何放弃对苹果公司的诉讼。

OpenAI 的 ChatGPT 在 2022 年底推出后的几个月内，成为历史上增长速度最快的消费者应用程序。