Elon Musk vs Sam Altman: Apple-OpenAI Bias Row Heats Up — But Where Does India Stand in the Global AI Race?

The war of words between two of the most familiar names in artificial intelligence - Elon Musk and Sam Altman - has come up once again, this time the epicentre is Apple. Someone asked Grok AI who is right – Sam Altman or Elon Musk- and Grok replied – Altman. Musk knocked the reply as “false defamatory statements” and called it the “biggest problem” of Grok, which is now being fixed by experts. 

Musk: “The fact that Grok is allowed to say false defamatory statements about me and they don’t get blocked or deleted (which would be easy to do) speaks to the integrity of this platform. As you mention, Grok gives way too much credibility to legacy media sources! This is a major problem and we’re working to fix it. I will provide a longer rebuttal for the record.”

The jab came just hours after Musk accused Apple of antitrust violations, claiming the iPhone company was blocking other AI apps, including his own xAI’s Grok, from topping the App Store charts while favouring its partner company OpenAI’s ChatGPT. He threatened legal action, calling Apple’s behaviour “an unequivocal antitrust violation” and branding Altman “a liar” over separate remarks about Musk allegedly manipulating X to help his own businesses. 

In a surprise twist, screenshots posted by another user demonstrated ChatGPT calling Musk "more trustworthy" than Altman.

The spat is part of a pattern of public insults between the two former partners. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but departed in 2018, due to disagreements over company’s ideas, specifically the company abandoning its non-profit origins to become for-profit in 2019. 

India’s Stand in the AI Arena 

As Silicon Valley bosses exchange blows, India is sprinting to make its own space in the AI arena. According to Statista Insight Report, the AI market is expected to hit a mark of US$7.84bn in 2025 with an annual growth rate of 26.37% which could take its market volume to US$31.94bn by 2031.

According to Nasscom, India's market for AI is set to hit $17 billion by 2027, based on domestic startups, corporate AI adoption, and government-funded programs such as the IndiaAI mission. However, the Musk-Altman fight highlights a fact India has to live with: a lot of today's futuristic AI infrastructure, ranging from foundation models to app store ecosystems, is in the hands of a limited number of US-based firms. 

Indian AI companies need to be concerned about the ongoing fight between big players like Apple, OpenAI, xAI, and Google. It’s not just tech drama; their battle for control over platforms affects how easily Indian apps are seen, how they rank, and how much it costs to get users, especially in a fast-growing market like India.

India needs to create a self-sufficient AI ecosystems that break free the Silicon Valley’s barricades. These AI systems should have robust domestic model training capability, adhere to ethical governance, and have distribution channels that are not hostage to Big Tech gatekeeping.

In the Musk vs Altman battle, whoever wins the celebrity battle won't make a huge difference to India's AI destiny unless India gets its innovators levelled up to compete on an even playing field, both domestically and internationally.

Read More: Elon Musk Accuses Apple of Favoring ChatGPT, Warns of Legal Action; Altman Hits Back