Sam Altman calls out Elon Musk over antitrust accusations against Apple App Store rankings

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly questioned Elon Musk’s claims that Apple is unfairly favouring OpenAI on its App Store rankings. In a post on X, Altman described Musk’s statement as “a remarkable claim” in light of allegations he has heard about Musk’s own practices on the social media platform.

“This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like,” Altman wrote, responding to Musk’s accusation that Apple is engaging in antitrust violations.

Musk had earlier posted that “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.”

However, context added to Musk’s post noted that other AI apps have reached the top spot in the App Store since the June 2024 OpenAI-Apple partnership, including DeepSeek in January 2025 and Perplexity in India in July 2025.

Altman also suggested he would welcome further investigation into Musk’s claims. “I hope someone will get counter-discovery on this, I and many others would love to know what’s been happening. But OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products,” he added.

Altman later tweeted: “will you sign an affidavit that you have never directed changes to the X algorithm in a way that has hurt your competitors or helped your own companies? i will apologize if so.”

The exchange marks the latest public clash between the two tech leaders, who have frequently criticised each other’s companies and strategies amid an increasingly competitive AI industry.