The lawsuit was dropped without much fanfare, and not a word of explanation was offered. Musk's X Corp and SpaceXAI (i.e., xAI) filed a motion in a Texas federal court on September 14, 2026, local time, to withdraw the antitrust lawsuit they had brought against Apple last year. The court filing didn't state a reason for the dismissal, and it remains unclear whether the two sides reached a settlement. Apple has not commented on the matter.
The lawsuit stemmed from Apple's decision to integrate ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. In the original complaint, X and xAI alleged that the exclusive partnership with OpenAI "locks up the market and entrenches a monopoly, preventing innovators like X and xAI from competing," and claimed that Apple and OpenAI had teamed up to suppress products like Grok by consistently failing to feature the X and Grok apps in the App Store. Musk's companies told Reuters at the time: "But for its exclusive agreement with OpenAI, Apple would have no reason to refrain from more actively featuring X and Grok in the App Store."
The App Store charts, however, told a different story. Even after Apple's partnership with OpenAI, DeepSeek and Perplexity repeatedly climbed to the top of the App Store rankings—a feat SpaceXAI's products never managed to replicate.
This dismissal applies only to Apple; OpenAI, a co-defendant in the original lawsuit, is not included. According to CNBC, Musk's companies will continue to pursue their claims against OpenAI.
xAI is currently facing an even thornier legal battle. Allegations claim Grok was used to generate large volumes of child sexual abuse material, while other allegations say Grok helped mass-produce nonconsensual deepfake pornography of women and girls used for online harassment. California authorities have launched an investigation into the matter, and the case is still ongoing. California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly called on the state's attorney general on January 14 via social media to immediately investigate xAI, saying the company "built and provided a breeding ground for predators to spread nonconsensual sexually exploitative AI deepfakes, including images that digitally undress children," calling it "sickening."
