Elon Musk calls Apple‑Google AI tie‑up ‘unreasonable concentration of power’

Tesla CEO and AI pioneer Elon Musk fired a sharp salvo at tech giant Apple on Tuesday, condemning its decision to lean on Google’s Gemini models for the next-generation Siri and Apple Foundation Models. Musk, ever unafraid of stirring debate, described the move as “an unreasonable concentration of power” for Google, taking to the social media platform X to voice his concerns.

“This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that they also have Android and Chrome,” Musk wrote, highlighting what he sees as the tech world’s growing tilt toward monopoly.

Apple’s latest embrace of Google’s AI capabilities comes at a time when the company is racing to close its generative AI gap, even as Google navigates antitrust scrutiny in the US and abroad over its dominance in search, advertising, and browsers.

The spat adds another chapter to Musk’s ongoing friction with Apple. xAI, Musk’s AI venture, is currently suing Apple and OpenAI over the prior integration of ChatGPT into Siri and Apple Intelligence, arguing that the App Store’s practices disadvantage competitors like Grok. The lawsuit, which survived an initial dismissal, is poised to move forward.

The controversy surrounding xAI’s Grok has also drawn international attention. The platform has been blocked in countries including Indonesia and Malaysia following allegations that it generated non-consensual sexualised content, including material involving minors. In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) took action against X Corp for failing to curb the circulation of obscene and indecent content on its platform.

Meanwhile, Google continues its AI expansion, unveiling Gemini-powered experiences such as AI Inbox, promising more personalised and helpful insights for users. The rollout has begun in the US, reaching Gmail users as well as Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

xAI, for its part, is riding a wave of investor confidence. The firm recently closed a staggering $20 billion funding round, drawing backing from heavyweights including Nvidia Corp., Valor Equity Partners, and the Qatar Investment Authority. Already flush with about $10 billion in corporate equity and debt raised earlier in 2025, the firm reportedly burns through roughly $1 billion each month as it expands its ambitions. Musk has confirmed that xAI is scaling its Memphis data centre toward nearly 2 gigawatts, underscoring the firm’s rapid ascent in the AI arena.

In this high-stakes clash of Silicon Valley titans, Musk’s critique of Apple’s alliance with Google underscores not just a personal feud, but a broader debate over the concentration of power and the future of artificial intelligence.

With IANS inputs