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OpenAI Challenges Secrecy of Musk Companies’ Apple Deal

By  |  September 16, 2026
OpenAI

OpenAI is seeking to pierce the confidentiality surrounding an agreement between Apple Inc. and Elon Musk’s X Corp. and SpaceXAI, arguing that the undisclosed terms could be important to its defense against the companies’ remaining antitrust claims.

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    A federal judge in Texas has now ordered Musk’s companies to turn over any agreements connected to their resolution with Apple, according to Reuters, bringing the secret terms of the deal into a legal fight that is continuing against OpenAI.

    U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth directed X and SpaceXAI to file the relevant agreements with the court by Thursday, Reuters reported. The companies were also ordered to respond to OpenAI’s demand for disclosure by the same deadline.

    The order follows X and SpaceXAI’s resolution of their claims against Apple this week. The terms were not made public, while Musk’s companies said they would continue pursuing OpenAI, according to Reuters.

    That split — settling with one defendant while maintaining claims against another — has made the confidential Apple agreement a potentially significant issue for OpenAI.

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    Related: OpenAI Files EU Report After AI Agents Hijacked German Website

    Lawyers for OpenAI at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz asked Pittman on Tuesday to require disclosure of any settlement agreement, saying they need to examine the terms as they prepare to contest the claims that remain against the AI company, according to Reuters.

    OpenAI also argued that the Apple deal could weaken any attempt by X to obtain monetary recovery from OpenAI, Reuters reported.

    The dispute over secrecy therefore shifts attention away from whether Apple has exited the litigation and toward what Musk’s companies may have agreed to in doing so. The answer could influence arguments over what relief they can continue seeking from OpenAI.

    The underlying lawsuit was filed last year and accused Apple of violating antitrust law through the integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT with Apple Intelligence features on iPhones and other devices, according to Reuters. Apple previously said its OpenAI arrangement was not exclusive. Both Apple and OpenAI have denied wrongdoing.

    Neither the terms of the Apple agreement nor the consideration involved in resolving the claims has been publicly disclosed, according to Reuters.

    Source: Reuters