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]

By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters

14 Sep 2026

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.