(MENAFN) Elon Musk’s social media platform X and AI startup xAI filed a lawsuit on Monday against Apple and OpenAI, alleging an "anticompetitive scheme" designed to block rivals in the artificial intelligence space.

The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, claims that Apple and OpenAI "colluded" to maintain dominance in the smartphone and generative AI markets. It further accuses Apple of giving preferential treatment to OpenAI by integrating ChatGPT into Apple devices while limiting visibility and ranking of competing AI chatbots, including xAI’s Grok, in the App Store.

“Unless the court enjoins Apple and OpenAI’s unlawful conduct, defendants will continue to thwart competition, and their competitors, like plaintiffs, will continue to suffer the anticompetitive consequences,” the filing states.

Earlier this month, Musk publicly criticized Apple on X, calling the company’s actions "an unequivocal antitrust violation" and claiming that its behavior "makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store."

The dispute comes amid Musk’s longstanding conflict with OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 over differences in vision and last year filed a separate lawsuit alleging that OpenAI had prioritized business goals over its original mission of developing AI "for the benefit of humanity broadly."

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