I assume that this approach must glean enough benefit for Elon to keep doing it, despite the risks that it carries.
Whatever the logic, Elon has again decided to take on Apple, this time over app rankings, and the fact that his Grok AI app hasn’t reached number one on the relevant app store charts as yet.
Since the release of xAI’s latest Grok 4 model, as well as its AI companions and its “Imagine” text-to-video generator, downloads of the Grok app have been increasing, but Elon says that Apple is deliberately restricting promotion of the app, despite its clear popularity.
As per Musk:
“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.”
Which is incorrect.
As many have pointed out, and as has been mentioned in the Community Note on Elon’s post, many AI apps have reached the number one spot in the App Store rankings, including Perplexity, DeepSeek and Meta AI.
So it’s not remotely true that Apple is restricting all AI apps except OpenAI, but even so, Elon has dug his heels in, and has continued to take swipes at Apple throughout the day, essentially accusing the company of anti-competitive behavior, designed to benefit OpenAI.
Which OpenAI’s chief Sam Altman has also weighed in on:
“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 is referring to Elon’s efforts to ensure that his own comments get more traction on X, while X’s Grok AI chatbot also reportedly references Elon’s posts and opinions on certain subjects when considering its responses.
Musk kind of denied this, by calling Altman a liar, though he has never actually ruled out the suggestion of either claim.
Though this is an aside, and more a note on Silicon Valley drama, with the real accusation of note being Elon’s criticisms of Apple, and the suggestion that he’ll be looking to take legal action over such.
Which he clearly knows that he won’t win, given, again, that several AI apps have reached the top of the App Store charts, while last time Elon tried to take on Apple (over Apple’s 30% App Store fees), he was quickly rebuked, once it became clear that Apple could opt to delist X from the App Store, and cause his business significant impacts.
So why is Musk going through this charade again?
Well, clearly, X and xAI gain a level of promotion from the subsequent coverage of Elon’s claims.
Elon is a master of getting attention, and one of the biggest benefits of having Elon in charge of your company is that you’re going to remain in the conversation, even without ads and/or paid promotion. Having Elon effectively means that you don’t need a media team to gain traction, as his own comments and statements are going to get enough of the media looking your way, though the question then is whether this is good or bad publicity. And whether that actually matters.
The old adage is that “all publicity is good publicity,” and there is some truth to the fact that even negative coverage, at a certain level, is beneficial for a business. Though Tesla’s reputation has taken a hit in recent years due to Musk’s political leanings, which has impacted both sales and its valuation, while X’s usage has declined since Musk took over at the app.
So maybe, Elon’s proving that motto to be incorrect, at least in the modern media world. Though we are all well aware of Elon Musk’s businesses, even with only limited paid promotion, and Elon continues to keep his projects in the headlines, giving him the equivalent of billions in media coverage as a result.
I assume that’s Musk’s intention in this case as well. Like, he must know that this is an easily disprovable claim, while he’s also criticized Apple for restricting X in the same way, despite X deliberately manipulating the App Store rankings by classifying itself as a news app (which it’s not).
Elon must know that this is not a fight that he can win. But we’re all talking about it, I’m writing about it, and you’re reading this right now, so there is a clear promotional value for Elon in making such claims.
As such, I suspect that, in a couple of days, Elon will claim that it’s all good, that he’s spoken to Tim Cook, and everything is right in the world again. Which is what he did last time, though Elon does also run the risk of sparking Apple’s ire, and losing out significantly as a result.
For example, X’s Grok chatbot went offline this week after making claims about genocide in Gaza, the latest controversy surrounding the chatbot, whole xAI’s new AI companions pose a significant exposure risk for youngsters.
Given the various concerns, Apple could have reason to pull X and xAI from the App Store entirely, which would be a devastating blow for both.
So Elon is taking a risk in making these claims. But it continues to work for him, so…
