B2 – Upper Intermediate
Elon Musk’s firms X and xAI has filed a lawsuit claiming that the Apple-OpenAI deal has no valid business reason to be exclusive.
According to the filing, this exclusive arrangement blocks threats from potential competitors, which allegedly violates competition laws.
Read the article about X and xAI filing a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI over AI competition.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly6xjg9nnyo
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “to join forces” mean? “Two Elon Musk-backed businesses have officially sued Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of joining forces illegally to block threats from potential competitors.” Use the phrase in a sentence. Give a similar expression.
- What does “to make good on something” mean? “The filing makes good on a threat Musk had lobbed against the two tech giants earlier this month, when he alleged that Apple favoured OpenAI in its app store rankings.” Use the idiom in a sentence. Give a synonym.
- What is the meaning of “to foreclose competition”. “The Apple-OpenAI arrangement has foreclosed competition among generative AI chatbots, deprived competing generative AI chatbots of scale, and reduced quality and innovation.” Use the term in a sentence.
Discussion Questions:
- What is your opinion on this lawsuit?
- What are your thoughts on Apple and OpenAI’s exclusive deal? Do you think it is a form of monopoly? Explain.
- Share your thoughts on OpenAI’s statement regarding the lawsuit, “The filing was consistent with Mr Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.”
- Talk in details about another anti-monopoly lawsuit you know of.
- Share your thoughts on Apple’s talks with Google over using Gemini chatbot to help power Siri, Apple’s voice assistant.