Apple Denies Musk's ChatGPT Favoritism Claims, Says App Store Has No Bias

[MacRumors]

Apple today responded to Elon Musk's claims that the App Store favors OpenAI's ChatGPT app, telling Bloomberg's Mark Gurman that the App Store is "fair and free of bias."

The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias. We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria. Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories.

Yesterday, Musk threatened to sue Apple, and claimed that the company was violating antitrust rules by favoring ChatGPT over other AI apps like Grok. "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," Musk said.

Musk did not provide any evidence or further information on Apple's alleged antitrust violations, but he seems to have missed that AI app DeepSeek hit number one on the App Store charts earlier this year. ChatGPT continues to be in the number one position on the free apps chart, with Grok in the number five spot. X is number 32.

Musk also claimed that Apple "refuses" to put the X or Grok apps in the App Store's "Must Have" section, where ChatGPT is listed. Grok has recently been updated with adult-themed content that includes celebrity deepfakes, and it regularly makes headlines for its questionable Musk-guided responses to queries.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk's claims of Apple favoritism by pointing out that Musk has manipulated X algorithms to benefit himself and his companies.

Apple is already facing an antitrust lawsuit levied by the U.S. Department of Justice, and it is still appealing a recent ruling in the Apple vs. Epic Games lawsuit that required major App Store changes.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Denies Musk's ChatGPT Favoritism Claims, Says App Store Has No Bias

 

[sniffies]

He needs a pacifier in his mouth

 

[germanbeer007]

Odd to see so many people who were defending EU and attacking Apple over unfair App Store practices suddenly come to defend Apple's practices when Elon is attacking Apple. It's just so blatantly obvious objectivity went out the window a long time ago LOL.

 

[MacUserFella]

Still cannot believe the entire scenario

“You’re favoring this app because you’re bias!”

As if that’s how the App Store works, not tons of people favoring one app

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Odd to see so many people who were defending EU and attacking Apple over unfair App Store practices suddenly come to defend Apple's practices when Elon is attacking Apple.

I mean, in this specific instance Apple isn't doing anything nefarious. Just sorting by popularity. Elon is complaining he's not winning the popularity contest as if he can do no wrong - it's the chart that's wrong.

It's kinda pathetic innit?

 

[q64ceo]

Odd to see so many people who were defending EU and attacking Apple over unfair App Store practices suddenly come to defend Apple's practices when Elon is attacking Apple. It's just so blatantly obvious objectivity went out the window a long time ago LOL.

It must suck viewing the world thru black and white glasses. There are more colors than that.

 

[211]

Odd to see so many people who were defending EU and attacking Apple over unfair App Store practices suddenly come to defend Apple's practices when Elon is attacking Apple. It's just so blatantly obvious objectivity went out the window a long time ago LOL.

Well, according to Grok itself on X...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1955284926611537983

 

[germanbeer007]

I mean, in this specific instance Apple isn't doing anything nefarious.

Apple hasn't done anything nefarious with their products. Apple should be able to make exclusive APIs to work with their smartwatch just as much as they should be able to select "curated experts" that decide what apps to feature on the App Store. It's their platform, their App Store, their rules.

But it seems like you want it one way that benefits you (you seem to be able to want to use any watch, not just Apple Watch) so you side with EU, but the other way doesn't benefit you so you side with Apple in that case.

 

[germanbeer007]

It must suck viewing the world thru black and white glasses. There are more colors than that.

Being objective is not seeing the world thru black and white glasses. You seem to only like certain colors depending on what's being painted on. Either way, it's a terrible analogy.

 

[germanbeer007]

Well, according to Grok itself...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1955284926611537983

You brought up the wrong context.

 

[dannyyankou]

Well, according to Grok itself...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1955284926611537983

Is this true?

 

[jakey rolling]

Odd to see so many people who were defending EU and attacking Apple over unfair App Store practices suddenly come to defend Apple's practices when Elon is attacking Apple. It's just so blatantly obvious objectivity went out the window a long time ago LOL.

I'm willing to bet that over half of the Gen-X and late Millennials defending Apple's unfair App Store practices in here were watching the US v. Microsoft case in the late 1990s and really hoping to see Microsoft get broken up. Objectivity isn't a trait you see in a lot of brand loyalists.

 

[JPack]

Tim Cook gave that piece of glass and 24k gold last week. Apple will be safe from any lawsuits coming from Musk.

 

[jakey rolling]

Odd to see so many people who were defending EU and attacking Apple over unfair App Store practices suddenly come to defend Apple's practices when Elon is attacking Apple. It's just so blatantly obvious objectivity went out the window a long time ago LOL.

It must suck viewing the world thru black and white glasses. There are more colors than that.

That.. uh.. was kind of germanbeer007's point, dude.

 

[ThomasJL]

The following image was originally posted by the journalist Ken Klippenstein:

 

[MacLawyer]

It's OK. Every country needs a crybaby in chief.

 

[7thson]

Considering how much Gurman leaks “private” information about Apple, I’m surprised they communicate with him publicly/on the record.

 

[q64ceo]

Being objective is not seeing the world thru black and white glasses. You seem to only like certain colors depending on what's being painted on. Either way, it's a terrible analogy.

But you're not being objective. You're taking two completely different scenarios and comparing them as if they are the same.

 

[BGPL]

Hopefully Elon will keep driving this until we get alternative app stores on iOS. Imagine owning a computer where you could only purchase software from one website... it's completely ridiculous, but too many buy into the security garbage that Apple uses as its firewall.

 

[CapitalIdea]

Amazing how someone can be so rich and successful, and still come across as a total loser.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

He's a surprisingly whiny guy. Imagine if he wasn't wealthy. Every day would be the worst struggle for the guy.

The problem here is that where Grok fits as a product is as an add on to a social media site. It didn't position itself as a general chatbot from the outset like ChatGPT or Anthropic did. This isn't Apple's problem, he needs to re-market it, if it's not too late.

 

[7thson]

Hopefully Elon will keep driving this until we get alternative app stores on iOS. Imagine owning a computer where you could only purchase software from one website... it's completely ridiculous, but too many buy into the security garbage that Apple uses as its firewall.

Well don’t buy a Tesla, because it is basically a computer with wheels, but no options for installing apps not supplied by Tesla. Of which there aren’t many.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

Good! The following image was originally posted by the journalist Ken Klippenstein:View attachment 2536953

Yeah to my point about marketing - the chat app that's summarizing news and getting banned and manipulated by special interest groups when the news isn't in their favor, isn't going to come across as a natural pick for programming, research or other creative pursuits.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Amazing how someone can be so rich and successful, and still come across as a total loser.

You'll have to clarify who you mean .. we have a lot of folks that fit the description.

 

[Manzanito]

Odd to see so many people who were defending EU and attacking Apple over unfair App Store practices suddenly come to defend Apple's practices when Elon is attacking Apple. It's just so blatantly obvious objectivity went out the window a long time ago LOL.

So what? Can't apple be right on an specific issue and wrong on a different one? Are we supposed to agree with apple on everything? Even grok is siding with apple on this one.