Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.

"In a desperate bid to protect its smartphone monopoly, Apple has joined forces with the company that most benefits from inhibiting competition and innovation in AI: OpenAI, a monopolist in the market for generative AI chatbots," Musk's lawsuit alleged.

Elon Musk's companies xAI and X are sueing Apple and OpenAI for antitrust violations, a move shadowed by revelations that xAI secretly dropped its public benefit status.