Musk continues his war on Apple by taking legal action against the company. On Monday, he filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, claiming they are working together to create monopolies and dominate the growing AI chatbot market. This latest move in his ongoing feud with Apple comes after Musk first complained on Twitter that his X/Twitter has been “shadow-banned” from Apple’s “Must Have” app store rankings.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Musk’s companies X and xAI, and it goes far beyond the complaint about app store rankings. It accuses Apple and OpenAI of entering into an exclusive deal that effectively locks out competitors from Apple’s ecosystem, while at the same time giving ChatGPT access to features, data, and other advantages that are unprecedented in the history of the iPhone. The lawsuit claims the partnership violates antitrust and unfair competition laws.

The deal with OpenAI would also threaten to derail Musk’s long-talked-about plans to build an “everything app” on top of Twitter, which he acquired in 2022. According to the complaint, Apple is making ChatGPT “a default part of the iPhone user experience across some Apple services and features.” The resulting integration into iOS would mean OpenAI would have exclusive access to billions of user prompts across Siri, Apple’s Writing Tools, and other functions.

X is arguing that data is “essential” to train and improve chatbot models, and competitors like Grok won’t be able to scale without it. The filing also estimates that OpenAI already has at least an 80 percent share of the chatbot market and, with Apple’s built-in integration, could cement its monopoly for years to come.

“Generative AI chatbots would vigorously compete with one another in a fair market,” the lawsuit reads. “Instead, defendants’ anticompetitive conduct has handed a substantial portion of the market to ChatGPT.”

X’s complaint further contends that Apple is acting because it is afraid that a successful rival super app could make iPhones less essential in the future. Apple doesn’t want to become WeChat, as the Chinese tech giant has become a one-stop shop for smartphones in the country. The complaint cites Apple executive Eddy Cue reportedly saying advances in AI are “something that could destroy Apple’s smartphone business.”

Musk’s filing characterizes the deal as a desperate last-ditch effort by Apple to save its iPhone monopoly, while at the same time helping OpenAI gain an insurmountable lead in generative AI. He’s comparing it to the longstanding arrangement between Apple and Google over search, which U.S. regulators have said helped cement Google’s search engine monopoly.

The complaint also alleges that Apple has rejected repeated overtures by xAI to allow Grok to integrate with iOS. It also says Apple refused a request to feature Grok in the App Store, including at the launch of its new “Imagine” feature for AI images and text. Beyond that, Apple has “manipulated” App Store rankings to suppress Grok, and delayed approval of Grok updates, the filing states.

The suit says the future of AI-driven super apps is at stake, not just Grok’s ability to compete. It says that Siri alone will handle 1.5 billion user requests per day globally in 2024, which is more than the total amount of prompts for all generative AI chatbots in 2024. If OpenAI alone gets all those prompts, that gives it control of up to 55 percent of potential chatbot prompts, X’s filing argues.

The lawsuit even speculates that the effects on consumers could be dire. Apple customers may have fewer options and less capable chatbots in the future, while paying monopoly prices for iPhones. Meanwhile, OpenAI could charge subscription prices well above market value. The lawsuit says OpenAI plans to double the monthly fee for its “plus” subscription over the next four years, which X argues would not be possible without pricing power.

Musk is also alleging that the deal could have a chilling effect on investment. Apple “pressing its thumb firmly on the scale” for ChatGPT and OpenAI could make it seem pointless to back rivals, X argues. That would result in a lack of resources for smaller startups, and they may have talent poached by Big Tech companies.

The filing also points out that the financials of the Apple-OpenAI deal don’t make much sense. X’s lawyers write that OpenAI gave ChatGPT to Apple for free, effectively paying Apple to be its exclusive chatbot on iPhones. The lawsuit suggests OpenAI sees blocking rivals with exclusive integration as more valuable than direct revenue. Apple apparently thinks the same thing, since it likely sees no short-term profit from the deal, the suit alleges.

“By making the deal exclusive, Apple sacrificed the profits it would have earned by integrating multiple chatbots,” the lawsuit claims. “The true motive was Apple and OpenAI’s shared goal of blocking competition.”

For Musk, this case could be a do-or-die battle. If he fails to stop Apple and OpenAI, Grok will never be able to compete fairly. This would make X less attractive to investors and users, Musk’s lawsuit states. “Because Grok’s functionality is a key feature of the X app, the X app is more attractive the better Grok performs,” the suit states. “Defendants’ conduct makes Grok less able to compete with ChatGPT, leading to fewer customers, less revenue, and ultimately a depressed enterprise value for X.”

His companies are seeking billions of dollars in damages and a permanent injunction that would prevent Apple from exclusively integrating ChatGPT. OpenAI, in a statement to Ars Technica, called Musk’s lawsuit part of “CEO Elon Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment against OpenAI and its employees.” Apple declined to comment.

Whether a court ultimately agrees with Musk that Apple and OpenAI are illegally entrenching monopolies could determine not only Grok’s future, but also how competitive the next wave of AI will be.