Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.
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Musk fight: Elon Musk’s xAI and X Corp have sued Apple and OpenAI in US federal court in Texas, alleging they conspired to block competition in artificial intelligence. Court documents cited by media say Apple’s partnership with OpenAI makes ChatGPT the only generative AI chatbot integrated into the iPhone, giving it exclusive access to billions of user prompts and feedback. Musk’s companies claim Apple deprioritises competing chatbots in App Store rankings, stifling innovation and blocking rivals like X and xAI. The suit seeks billions in damages and a court order to stop the alleged “illegal arrangement.” OpenAI called the filing part of Musk’s “ongoing pattern of harassment.” Apple has not commented. Musk co-founded OpenAI a decade ago but later split from the company. He launched xAI less than two years ago, acquired X in March 2025 for USD33 billion, and is suing OpenAI separately in California. (Capital Brief)(WSJ)(Bloomberg)(Reuters)
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Big Copyright: A pioneering Victorian AI researcher whose work inspired ChatGPT has backed Scott Farquhar’s push to loosen copyright laws “at least” in line with the US. Calling existing copyright rules “purely extractive,” Answer.ai founder Jeremy Howard told Capital Brief that relaxing them would both be fairer and a way to attract investment from AI labs like OpenAI. "Copyright has its place, but it's gone far beyond the original plans for it thanks to corporate lobbying," Howard said on the sidelines of the Actuaries Institute's AI Con event, where he was keynote speaker. "Copyright has been created by Big Copyright. It used to be called the Mickey Mouse law because it was created in order to maintain the profits of Mickey Mouse." Copyright laws initially granted book publishers exclusive rights to their works for 14 years, but Australian copyright protections now last 70 years after the creators' death. (Capital Brief)
