Altman and Musk's 'mud-slinging feud'

Disregarding the goal of 'AI for humanity'

Continual mutual accusations and lawsuits

OpenAI and xAI, both founded with the mission to develop artificial intelligence (AI) beneficial to humanity, are now engaged in a mud-slinging conflict. Both companies have abandoned their original goal as public benefit organizations.

On the 25th (local time), xAI filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI at the Portworks District Court in Texas, USA. In its complaint, xAI claimed, "Apple and OpenAI have maintained a monopoly through mutual cooperation, locking out innovative companies like xAI from entering the market." The decision by Apple to select OpenAI's ChatGPT as the default AI model for Apple Intelligence allegedly deprived consumers of choice and hindered AI innovation. Apple is reportedly set to equip GPT-5 in iOS 26, scheduled for release next month.

Elon Musk, founder of xAI, criticized on X (formerly Twitter) the same day, saying, "Grok has a 4.9 rating and 1 million reviews on the Apple App Store, but Apple refuses to mention Grok on any list." OpenAI responded, "This lawsuit filing is just another instance of Musk's ongoing pattern of harassment."

xAI has revealed that it abandoned its public benefit corporation status in order to gain an advantage in the intensifying AI model competition. A PBC (Public Benefit Corporation) is a corporation that combines elements of nonprofit organizations with for-profit enterprises, allowing companies to address social issues. OpenAI, which also started as a nonprofit, reorganized its structure last May into a hybrid of a PBC and a for-profit corporation.

Silicon Valley = Inyup Kim, Correspondent inside@hankyung.com