OpenAI Asks Judge to End Musk Companies’ ChatGPT Antitrust Case Before Trial

The antitrust case against OpenAI could end before trial. OpenAI has asked a federal judge in Texas to rule in its favor, arguing that evidence gathered in the case contradicts Elon Musk’s companies’ account of how Apple’s ChatGPT integration harmed competition.

The motion challenges both the claim that Apple’s arrangement gave OpenAI an unfair advantage over rival chatbots and the allegation that OpenAI holds monopoly power. OpenAI points to SpaceX investor disclosures and says the Apple integration brought in fewer additional ChatGPT users than expected.

The claim behind the Apple deal

Musk’s companies sued Apple and OpenAI last year. They alleged that Apple exclusively integrated ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence features on its devices, giving OpenAI an unfair advantage over competing chatbots, including xAI’s. The allegation concerns a route to users: if a chatbot is built into Apple’s AI features and rivals are not, the plaintiffs argue, that placement can make competition harder.

Apple and OpenAI deny wrongdoing. Apple has said its agreement with OpenAI is not exclusive, directly contesting the premise that other AI developers are barred from such an arrangement.

Two challenges to the harm claim

First, OpenAI cites SpaceX’s registration statement for its June stock-market debut. It argues that disclosures SpaceX made to investors conflict with xAI’s description of competitive harm in the lawsuit. OpenAI also points to testimony and other evidence gathered during the case. These are arguments for ending the suit, not findings by the court.

Second, OpenAI disputes the idea that Apple’s integration delivered the scale of advantage alleged by the plaintiffs. It says the feature got off to a slow start and that it cut its forecast for additional logged-in weekly ChatGPT users directly attributable to the integration. That measure concerns the extra logged-in users OpenAI expected the partnership itself to bring, not all ChatGPT use on Apple devices.

A decision before January?

The case now continues against OpenAI alone after the plaintiffs resolved their claims against Apple on undisclosed terms. OpenAI has asked U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman to decide the case on the evidence gathered so far, rather than send it to the trial scheduled for January. He has not ruled on the request.