Elon Musk’s xAI has filed a lawsuit in Texas accusing Apple and OpenAI of colluding to stifle competition in the AI sector.
The case alleges that both companies locked up markets to maintain monopolies, making it harder for rivals like X and xAI to compete.
The dispute follows Apple’s 2024 deal with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into Siri and other apps on its devices. According to the lawsuit, Apple’s exclusive partnership with OpenAI has prevented fair treatment of Musk’s products within the App Store, including the X app and xAI’s Grok app.
Musk previously threatened legal action against Apple over antitrust concerns, citing the company’s alleged preference for ChatGPT.
Musk, who acquired his social media platform X in a $45 billion all-stock deal earlier in the year, is seeking billions of dollars in damages and a jury trial. The legal action highlights Musk’s ongoing feud with OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman.
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI who left in 2018 after disagreements with Altman, has repeatedly criticised the company’s shift to a profit-driven model. He is also pursuing separate litigation against OpenAI and Altman over that transition in California.
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OpenAI has announced plans to open its first office in India later this year, selecting New Delhi as the location. India is now ChatGPT’s second-largest market after the US and continues to experience rapid growth in user activity.
Weekly active users of ChatGPT in India have increased over fourfold over the past year, with students making up the largest global user segment. CEO Sam Altman praised India’s talent pool and government support, stating the new office is key to building AI with and for India.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw welcomed the move, citing India’s AI mission and expanding digital infrastructure as a natural foundation for the partnership. OpenAI will also hold its first Education Summit in India later this month, aiming to further engage with students and educators nationwide.
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OpenAI’s chief people officer, Julia Villagra, has left the company, marking the latest leadership change at the AI pioneer. Villagra, who joined the San Francisco firm in early 2024 and was promoted in March, previously led its human resources operations.
Her responsibilities will temporarily be overseen by chief strategy officer Jason Kwon, while chief applications officer Fidji Simo will lead the search for her successor.
OpenAI said Villagra is stepping away to pursue her personal interest in art, music and storytelling as tools to help people understand the shift towards artificial general intelligence, a stage when machines surpass human performance in most forms of work.
The departure comes as OpenAI navigates a period of intense competition for AI expertise. Microsoft-backed OpenAI is valued at about $300 billion, with a potential share sale set to raise that figure to $500 billion.
The company faces growing rivalry from Meta, where Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly offered $100 million signing bonuses to attract OpenAI talent.
While OpenAI expands, public concerns over the impact of AI on employment continue. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 71% of Americans fear AI could permanently displace too many workers, despite the unemployment rate standing at 4.2% in July.
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According to sworn interrogations, OpenAI said Musk had discussed possible financing arrangements with Zuckerberg as part of the bid. Musk’s AI startup xAI, a competitor to OpenAI, did not respond to requests for comment.
In the filing, OpenAI asked a federal judge to order Meta to provide documents related to any bid for OpenAI, including internal communications about restructuring or recapitalisation. The firm argued these records could clarify motivations behind the bid.
Meta countered that such documents were irrelevant and suggested OpenAI seek them directly from Musk or xAI. A US judge ruled that Musk must face OpenAI’s claims of attempting to harm the company through public remarks and what it described as a sham takeover attempt.
The legal dispute follows Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman over its for-profit transition, with OpenAI filing a countersuit in April. A jury trial is scheduled for spring 2026.
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Last week, on Monday, Google agreed to pay a A$55 million (US$35.8 million) fine in Australia after regulators found it restricted competition by striking revenue-sharing deals with Telstra and Optus to pre-install its search app on Android phones, sidelining rival platforms. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the arrangements, which were in place from 2019 to 2021, limited consumer choice and blocked competitors’ visibility. Google admitted that the deals harmed competition and pledged to drop similar practices, while Telstra and Optus confirmed that they no longer pursue such agreements. The settlement, which still requires court approval, comes amid wider legal and regulatory challenges for Google in Australia, including a recent loss in a case brought by Epic Games and growing scrutiny over its role in app distribution and social media access.
The United States and the European Union have agreed on a new Framework Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade, aiming to reset one of the world’s largest trade relationships. The deal includes EU commitments to eliminate tariffs on US industrial goods, expand access for American agricultural and seafood products, and procure $750 billion in US energy exports and $40 billion in AI chips by 2028. In return, the US will cap tariffs on key EU goods, ease automobile tariffs, and pursue cooperation on steel, aluminium, and supply chain security. Both sides pledged deeper collaboration on defence procurement, digital trade, cybersecurity, sustainability rules, and standards harmonisation, while also working to resolve disputes over deforestation, carbon border taxes, and non-tariff barriers.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that the US risks underestimating China’s rapid AI progress, arguing that export controls on advanced semiconductors are an unreliable long-term solution. Speaking in San Francisco, he said chip restrictions and policy-driven approaches often fail due to workarounds, while China is quickly expanding its AI capacity and accelerating domestic alternatives through firms like Huawei.
On the same front, Nvidia is quietly developing a new AI chip for China, the B30A, based on its advanced Blackwell architecture, just as Washington debates how much US technology Beijing should be allowed to access. Positioned between the weaker H20 and the flagship B300, the B30A retains key features like high-bandwidth memory and NVLink, making it more powerful than China’s current scaled-down H20 approved model while staying within export limits. The move follows President Trump’s recent openness to allowing scaled-down chip sales to China, though bipartisan lawmakers remain wary of boosting Beijing’s AI capabilities. Nvidia, which relies on China for 13% of its revenue, also plans to release the lower-end RTX6000D for AI inference in September, reflecting efforts to comply with US-China export policy while fending off rising domestic rivals like Huawei, whose chips are improving but still lag in software and memory. Meanwhile, Chinese regulators have warned firms about potential security risks in Nvidia’s products, underscoring the political tensions shaping the company’s commercial strategy.
Private conversations with xAI’s chatbot Grok were unintentionally exposed online after its ‘share’ button generated public URLs that became indexed by Google and other search engines, raising serious concerns about user privacy and AI safety. The leaked chats included sensitive and dangerous content, from hacking crypto wallets to drug-making instructions, despite xAI’s ban on harmful use. The flaw, reminiscent of earlier issues with other AI platforms like ChatGPT, has damaged trust in xAI and highlighted the urgent need for stronger privacy safeguards, such as blocking the indexing of shared content and adopting privacy-by-design measures, as users may otherwise hesitate to engage with chatbots.
Meta is launching a new research lab dedicated to superintelligence, led by Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, as part of its push to regain momentum in the global AI race after mixed results with its Llama models and ongoing talent losses. Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly considering a multibillion-dollar investment in Scale, signalling strong confidence in Wang’s approach, while the lab’s creation, separate from Meta’s FAIR division, underscores Meta’s shift toward partnerships with top AI players, mirroring strategies used by Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.
Japanese technology giant SoftBank has announced plans to buy a $2 billion stake in Intel, signalling a stronger push into the American semiconductor industry. The investment comes as Washington debates greater government involvement in the sector, with reports suggesting President Donald Trump is weighing a US government stake in the chipmaker. SoftBank will purchase Intel’s common stock at $23 per share. Its chairman, Masayoshi Son, said semiconductors remain the backbone of every industry and expressed confidence that advanced chip manufacturing will expand in the US, with Intel playing a central role.
For the main updates, reflections and events, consult the RADAR, the READING CORNER and the UPCOMING EVENTS section below.
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The Frontier Stable Token marks the first government-backed stablecoin in the US, with Wyoming positioning itself as a leader in digital finance innovation.
With the V3.1 upgrade now live and the R1 label missing, observers are debating whether DeepSeek has postponed or abandoned its R2 reasoning model entirely.
The former Twitter chief executive argues that AI agents will soon dominate the internet instead of humans, with individuals likely to deploy dozens to manage daily online activity.
Strangeworks acquires German firm Quantagonia to expand European operations and bring AI-powered, quantum-ready planning technology to more organisations.
Regulators urge safeguards for AI toys as children gain interactive companions that teach and engage instead of relying solely on human interaction or screens.
The platform allows users to conduct market research, plan products, design prototypes, check regulations, and find distributors in minutes rather than weeks.
HTC’s entry into this market is significant as it competes with established players like Meta, Google, and Samsung, each developing or already offering advanced smart glasses technology.
Key concerns include the potential for widespread job displacement as AI systems replace human workers, significant environmental harm due to the substantial energy usage of AI models, and privacy erosion…
A $45 million Bitcoin donation accepted without checks has turned into a major Czech political scandal, now focused on money laundering and drug trafficking.
As the Trump-Putin summit brought Alaska into focus, its overlooked telegraph cables reveal a fascinating history: in the late 19th century, Alaska was on the brink of becoming a telecommunication hub connecting the US to Europe via Siberia.
Can AI replace the transmission of wisdom? The world of education is changing radically and rapidly. Generative AI tools are now capable of writing essays, solving math problems, summarising textbooks, and even personalising learning experiences at scale.
English dominates the AI landscape, but this hegemony can hinder our understanding of AI’s deeper, non-technical aspects. The recent explosion of AI jargon often obscures meaning and can lead to cognitive confusion. Embracing our native languages allows us to deflate this jargon, fostering clearer, common-sense comprehension of AI concepts.
AI offers tools to expand access to justice globally, but without transparency, oversight, and human-rights safeguards, it risks deepening bias, exclusion, and eroding public trust.
How is money shaping foreign policy? Learn how countries use sovereign wealth funds and strategic investments as powerful tools for foreign policy and soft power.
OpenAI’s rollout of GPT-5 has faced criticism from users attached to older models, who say the new version lacks the character of its predecessors.
GPT-5 was designed as an all-in-one model, featuring a lightweight version for rapid responses and a reasoning version for complex tasks. A routing system determines which option to use, although users can manually select from several alternatives.
Modes include Auto, Fast, Thinking, Thinking mini, and Pro, with the last available to Pro subscribers for $200 monthly. Standard paid users can still access GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, 4o-mini, and even 3o through additional settings.
Chief executive Sam Altman has said the long-term goal is to give users more control over ChatGPT’s personality, making customisation a solution to concerns about style. He promised ample notice before permanently retiring older models.
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Elon Musk has taken an unexpected conciliatory turn in his feud with Sam Altman by praising a ChatGPT-5 response, ‘I don’t know’, as more valuable than overconfident answers. Musk described it as ‘a great answer’ from the AI chatbot.
At one point, xAI’s Grok chat assistant sided with Altman, while ChatGPT offered a supportive nod to Musk. These chatbot alignments have introduced confusion and irony into a clash already rich with irony.
Musk’s praise of a modest AI response contrasts sharply with the often intense claims of supremacy. It signals a rare acknowledgement of restraint and clarity, even from an avowed critic of OpenAI.
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OpenAI has updated GPT-5 to make its tone noticeably warmer and more engaging, without reverting to the overly flattering style some users criticised in GPT-4o. The change is rolling out, aiming to balance emotional resonance with substance.
CEO Sam Altman stated the adjustment directly responds to users finding GPT-5 too formal or robotic. The update is subtle yet visible, enhancing conversational warmth while avoiding sycophantic tendencies.
OpenAI also expands user control by offering three interaction modes, Auto, Fast, and Thinking, which adapt response style to user preference. These changes empower users to shape the tone and depth of their AI interactions.
Reacting to public frustration, OpenAI has reinstated GPT-4o (along with GPT-4.1, o3, and GPT-5 Thinking mini) for paid subscribers, while promising more customisation options in future updates.
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ChatGPT’s mobile app has surpassed $2 billion in worldwide consumer spending since its launch in May 2023, according to Appfigures. Revenue from January to July 2025 alone reached $1.35 billion, a 673% increase from the same period in 2024.
The app has also dominated downloads, with an estimated 690 million lifetime installs, including 318 million added in 2025. India leads in total downloads at 13.7%, followed by the US, which accounts for 38% of revenue.
Competitors such as Grok, Claude, and Copilot remain far behind, with Grok generating just $25.6 million in 2025.
Consumer spending per download reinforces ChatGPT’s lead, averaging $2.91 globally and $10 in the US. The figures highlight OpenAI’s dominance in the mobile AI assistant market, despite ongoing criticism from X owner Elon Musk, who has alleged that the App Store suppresses competition.
Apple has rejected these claims.
The AI market continues to heat up as Microsoft integrates OpenAI’s GPT-5 into its Copilot offerings. Elon Musk has predicted intense competition, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has downplayed Musk’s criticism, emphasising innovation and collaboration as the sector expands.
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OpenAI recently unveiled GPT-5, a significant upgrade praised for its advances in accuracy, reasoning, writing, coding and multimodal capabilities. The model has also been designed to reduce hallucinations and excessive agreeableness.
Chief executive Sam Altman has admitted that OpenAI has even more powerful systems that cannot be released due to limited capacity.
Altman explained that the company must make difficult choices, as existing infrastructure cannot yet support the more advanced models. To address the issue, OpenAI plans to invest in new data centres, with spending potentially reaching trillions of dollars.
The shortage of computing power has already affected operations, including a cutback in image generation earlier in the year, following the viral Studio Ghibli-style trend.
Despite criticism of GPT-5 for offering shorter responses and lacking emotional depth, ChatGPT has grown significantly.
Altman said the platform is now the fifth most visited website worldwide and is on track to overtake Instagram and Facebook. However, he acknowledged that competing with Google will be far harder.
OpenAI intends to expand beyond ChatGPT with new standalone applications, potentially including an AI-driven social media service.
The company also backs Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface rival to Elon Musk’s Neuralink. It has partnered with former Apple designer Jony Ive to create a new AI device.
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