OpenAI Accuses Musk’s xAI of Evidence Destruction in AI Antitrust Battle

OpenAI just dropped a bombshell—and it’s aimed straight at Elon Musk’s xAI. The allegation? Evidence wiping in a high-stakes antitrust fight that could reshape the entire AI landscape.

Behind the Legal Curtain

This isn’t just another corporate spat. OpenAI’s legal team claims xAI systematically destroyed communications and internal documents relevant to an ongoing antitrust investigation. The implication is clear: someone didn’t want a paper trail.

The timing couldn’t be more charged. Regulatory scrutiny of AI giants is intensifying globally, with watchdogs probing whether market concentration is stifling innovation. Destroying evidence in such a probe isn’t just bad optics—it’s a potential legal quagmire.

Why This Matters for Tech

Beyond the courtroom drama, this fight exposes the bare-knuckle competition defining the AI gold rush. Billions in valuation, talent wars, and now, allegations of obstructing justice. It’s a stark reminder that in the race for artificial general intelligence, the rules are still being written—and sometimes, allegedly, erased.

For the finance crowd watching from the sidelines, it’s just another day where ‘disruption’ looks suspiciously like old-fashioned corporate trench warfare—just with better branding and worse discovery practices.

The next move is Musk’s. Will xAI counter-sue, settle, or fight this out in public? One thing’s certain: in the battle for AI supremacy, the discovery process just got a lot more interesting.

Musk’s xAI challenges Apple and OpenAI over ChatGPT deal

Musk’s social media platform X and xAI filed an antitrust lawsuit against OpenAI and Apple Inc. in August. Musk’s companies argue that by embedding ChatGPT directly into Apple’s devices, especially the iPhone, Apple has effectively given OpenAI a powerful advantage over competing chatbots.

These include xAI’s own product, Grok, which is closely tied to the X platform. The suit seeks billions of dollars in damages and argues that smaller or newer AI companies are being locked out of crucial markets. 

OpenAI and Apple have denied the claims, arguing that integrating ChatGPT does not prevent other AI tools from competing or being accessed by users. Yet despite these denials, in November a judge in Fort Worth, Texas, decided the case could proceed, allowing the plaintiffs to pursue their arguments in court. 

In its latest filing, OpenAI also traced the lawsuit to a long-standing personal and professional feud between Elon Musk and OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman. Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research lab founded in 2015. Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018, and the relationship between the two has soured since then, with Musk frequently criticizing the company’s direction and governance. 

The filing states that OpenAI had asked xAI for documents to support its argument that Apple’s partnership with OpenAI prevented xAI from entering the generative AI market. But OpenAI says it got nothing of substance.

OpenAI launches standalone Codex app for Apple computers

Despite the ongoing legal battle, OpenAI continues product development, announcing the launch of its Codex app for Apple computers on the same day as the court filing.

The new app has a simple interface and is designed to serve as a “command center” that makes it easy for software developers to manage multiple AI agents at once, OpenAI said. An AI agent is a tool that can independently complete tasks, like writing code, on behalf of a user.

Previously, Codex was primarily accessible to users via web-based tools or tools in other software. This standalone app is designed to provide developers and technical users with a closer, more focused experience, allowing them to focus on code on macOS devices. 

OpenAI notes that the app lets users interact directly with Codex on their desktops, making it easier to create code snippets, test applications, and explore various coding concepts without switching between tools. 

But with the app’s launch on Monday, OpenAI said it is also making Codex available to its free users and to its low-cost Go subscription tier for a limited time. That means all ChatGPT users can use Codex across all its available interfaces, including the Apple app.

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