OpenAI stuck fighting Musk antitrust suit after Apple finds a way out

OpenAI 仍深陷马斯克的反垄断诉讼，苹果已成功脱身

Elon Musk is seemingly done attacking Apple over its decision to integrate ChatGPT into iPhone features. Back in 2024, when the partnership was first announced, Musk slammed the integration as an agreement from Apple to let OpenAI install “creepy spyware” on users’ devices. 埃隆·马斯克似乎已经停止了对苹果将 ChatGPT 集成到 iPhone 功能中的攻击。早在 2024 年该合作关系首次宣布时，马斯克就抨击这一整合是苹果允许 OpenAI 在用户设备上安装“令人毛骨悚然的间谍软件”。

The next year, he sued, claiming the partnership gave the firms a “monopoly” on Apple users’ AI prompts, which allegedly harmed competition in both smartphone and chatbot markets. For Musk, the fight with Apple seemingly escalated after he believed that his chatbot, Grok, was perhaps being illegally blocked from topping Apple’s App Store rankings. 次年，他提起诉讼，声称该合作关系使两家公司在苹果用户的 AI 提示词方面形成了“垄断”，据称这损害了智能手机和聊天机器人市场的竞争。对马斯克而言，他与苹果的冲突似乎在认为自己的聊天机器人 Grok 可能被非法阻止登上苹果 App Store 榜首后进一步升级。

Last August, he claimed that “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.” However, on Monday, Musk confirmed in a court filing that he has resolved all claims against Apple. 去年 8 月，他声称：“苹果的行为使得除 OpenAI 之外的任何 AI 公司都不可能在 App Store 中达到第一名，这显然是明确的反垄断违规行为。”然而，周一马斯克在法庭文件中确认，他已解决了针对苹果的所有诉讼请求。

The filing does not indicate if there were any negotiated settlement terms or otherwise explain why X would suddenly seek a voluntary dismissal. What is clear is that Musk agreed to never raise the claims again against Apple, while notably refusing to drop the same claims against OpenAI. 该文件并未说明是否存在任何协商的和解条款，也没有解释为什么 X 公司会突然寻求自愿撤诉。明确的是，马斯克同意不再针对苹果提出这些诉讼请求，但值得注意的是，他拒绝撤销针对 OpenAI 的相同指控。

Now, it seems that Musk plans to advance claims that OpenAI relied on the deal—which Apple emphasized was never exclusive—to monopolize the chatbot market. OpenAI has already slammed Musk’s lawsuit as another attempt to harass the AI company as Musk’s rival AI firm, now called SpaceXAI, races to catch up. 现在，马斯克似乎计划推进指控，称 OpenAI 依赖该协议（苹果强调该协议从未具有排他性）来垄断聊天机器人市场。OpenAI 已经抨击马斯克的诉讼是骚扰该 AI 公司的又一尝试，因为马斯克旗下的竞争对手 AI 公司（现更名为 SpaceXAI）正竞相追赶。

Last fall, OpenAI mocked Musk’s claims as baseless, emphasizing that Musk won’t even “hazard a guess” at what portion of the chatbot market is being foreclosed by the OpenAI/Apple deal. Instead, Musk claimed it could be anywhere from 0 to 55 percent, based on “back-of-the-envelope math” that OpenAI thinks the court should reject. 去年秋天，OpenAI 嘲笑马斯克的指控毫无根据，并强调马斯克甚至不敢“大胆猜测” OpenAI 与苹果的交易究竟排除了多少聊天机器人市场份额。相反，马斯克声称这一比例可能在 0% 到 55% 之间，其依据是 OpenAI 认为法院应予以驳回的“粗略计算”。

As the litigation proceeds, OpenAI has continued to deny allegations of antitrust violations, while seemingly moving to shore up a second line of defense. In May, OpenAI started publicly saying that it felt “burned” by the Apple integration, which OpenAI felt that Apple didn’t really promote. 随着诉讼的进行，OpenAI 继续否认有关反垄断违规的指控，同时似乎正在加强第二道防线。今年 5 月，OpenAI 开始公开表示，它对苹果的整合感到“被坑了”，因为 OpenAI 认为苹果并没有真正推广该功能。

As one executive anonymously told Bloomberg, OpenAI expected the deal “could generate billions of dollars per year in subscriptions,” but instead Apple allegedly designed the features integrating ChatGPT in ways that made the chatbot functionality hard to discover. At that time, OpenAI was reportedly mulling legal action, as efforts to renegotiate the deal stalled. 正如一位高管匿名告诉彭博社的那样，OpenAI 曾预计该交易“每年可产生数十亿美元的订阅收入”，但据称苹果在设计集成 ChatGPT 的功能时，使得聊天机器人功能难以被发现。据报道，当时由于重新谈判协议的努力陷入僵局，OpenAI 正在考虑采取法律行动。

Musk’s ire for OpenAI is well-known. Earlier this year, Musk lost a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its core mission to create AI that benefits humanity. For Musk, the loss was frustrating, since a jury unanimously ruled he waited too long to sue, not that his claims were invalid. 马斯克对 OpenAI 的愤怒众所周知。今年早些时候，马斯克输掉了一场诉讼，他指控 OpenAI 背弃了其创造造福人类的 AI 的核心使命。对马斯克来说，这次失败令人沮丧，因为陪审团一致裁定他起诉得太晚，而不是他的指控无效。

Musk may have risked hitting a similar procedural brick wall in the antitrust litigation, as both Apple and OpenAI had emphasized that Musk does not compete in the smartphone industry and cannot pursue the claims, as none of his companies make smartphones. 马斯克在反垄断诉讼中可能面临类似的程序性障碍，因为苹果和 OpenAI 都强调，马斯克并不参与智能手机行业的竞争，且由于他的任何公司都不生产智能手机，因此他无权提出这些诉讼请求。

Previously, Apple argued that a Musk win would devastate the tech industry by setting an alarming precedent that any deal with a supplier violates antitrust law if proposals from rival firms are rejected. However, as the more narrowed litigation heads to trial this fall, it seems possible that Musk may have dropped Apple from the litigation after securing insights that he wanted. 此前，苹果辩称，如果马斯克胜诉，将通过树立一个令人担忧的先例来摧毁科技行业，即如果拒绝了竞争对手的提议，那么与供应商的任何交易都将违反反垄断法。然而，随着范围缩小的诉讼案将于今年秋季进入审判阶段，马斯克在获得他想要的内幕信息后放弃对苹果的诉讼似乎是有可能的。

This summer, a court ordered that Apple hand over to Musk’s companies a range of internal messages in which its employees discussed the OpenAI deal. That evidence may help Musk refine his calculations on how much of the chatbot market OpenAI supposedly sought to foreclose. 今年夏天，法院下令苹果向马斯克的公司移交一系列内部信息，其中包含其员工讨论 OpenAI 交易的内容。这些证据可能有助于马斯克完善他关于 OpenAI 试图排除多少聊天机器人市场的计算。