1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:04,520 Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk 2 00:00:04,520 --> 00:00:07,120 Podcast. This is a show where we discuss 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,520 the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The 4 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,600 Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden. 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,720 Elon Musk says that Apple is suppressing his new AI app and 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,040 he plans to sue them for it. Elon is suing Apple. 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,120 He's CEO of XAI, and he claims that Apple is manipulating App 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:34,840 Store rankings to demote his company's chatbot Crock XAI, 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,720 even as user downloads and engagement climbs, according to 10 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:42,040 his statistics. Now this accusation has 11 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,080 escalated into a public legal threat by Musk. 12 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:49,720 He warned them the formal action could come within days. 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,080 Now Musk made that announcement on X, claiming that Apple 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,000 artificially dropped Croc's ranking despite what he called a 15 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,080 massive surge in downloads. He insisted that Croc briefly 16 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,760 became the number one app in the US App Store this week, but that 17 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:08,120 Apple manually moved it down, favoring its own or rival apps. 18 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:13,080 He described this as blatant antitrust violation and said 19 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,520 legal filings are imminent unless Apple reverses the 20 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,240 ranking adjustment. Another claim follows the August 21 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,480 10th launch of Grok as a stand alone iOS app, and until now 22 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,760 Grok had been integrated directly into X for Premium Plus 23 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,840 subscribers, and the new app places XAI in direct competition 24 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:33,000 with other AI chat box like Open AI's ChatGPT and Google's 25 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,480 Gemini. With hours of release, Grok rose 26 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,880 in the App Store's charts and Musk's team expected it to hold 27 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:41,760 his position. But it didn't happen. 28 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,160 Musk said that Apple's team manually adjusted the App Store 29 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,960 rankings shortly after Grok hit the top spot. 30 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:54,120 He provided absolutely no technical data, but he cited 31 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,760 internal XAI download analytics, showing a sharp upward trend 32 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,920 that he said did not match the apps sudden ranking drop. 33 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,320 He did not specify which Apple apps or partners allegedly 34 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,000 benefited from this adjustment. Now, let's play devil's advocate 35 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,920 here. Elon's app rose dramatically for 36 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:14,760 a short amount of time. And during this short amount of 37 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,280 time, could there have been another app in the App Store 38 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:21,960 adjacent Elon's app? You know, ChatGPT just released 39 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:27,720 a new GPT 5. So could there have been a spike 40 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:33,000 in ChatGPT downloads at the same time and ChatGPT just overtook 41 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,120 Grok? Because it has, you know, it has 42 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,480 more media behind it. It has more staying power. 43 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,360 People know more about chatty BT than they do Grok. 44 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,120 It's just a fact. It's all over the place. 45 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,040 But could that have been the case? 46 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,040 And could it not have been artificial? 47 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:56,520 Could Apple not have pushed Grok down and Elon just got beat in 48 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:57,800 the rankings? I'm just playing devil's 49 00:02:57,800 --> 00:02:59,640 advocate. Just putting something out there 50 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,720 so you can think about it. So there's been sources that are 51 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,800 close to XAI. They said they're already the 52 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,840 legal team is already preparing A complaint focused on US 53 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,840 antitrust law, particularly around self preferencing 54 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,560 behavior in Apple's App Store. They're also examining Apple's 55 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,080 app ranking algorithms to build a case that Apple exerts undue 56 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,960 influence over visibility for competitive products. 57 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,720 The potential lawsuit could cite historical regulatory scrutiny 58 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,760 into Apple's handling of App Store search and discovery 59 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,440 systems, which have been criticized in past 60 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:37,360 investigations. Now, Musk's statement added 61 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,160 pressure by claiming the issue could soon involve international 62 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,480 regulators. He framed the incident as more 63 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,080 than just a private dispute and urged global authorities to 64 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,120 investigate how Apple curates App Store rankings for AI apps 65 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:52,280 now. That framing aligns with earlier 66 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,560 claims he made about Apple's partnership with Open AI, which 67 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,360 he has repeatedly described as dangerous and mana ballistic. 68 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,400 So the acquisition also come in the middle of Musk's larger 69 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,360 public feud with Apple and Open AI. 70 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:13,240 Of course, he hates the owner or the CEO of ChatGPT. 71 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,640 Apple announced it would embed ChatGPT into Siri and other iOS 72 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,360 features, triggering backlash from Elon Musk, who pledged to 73 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,960 ban Apple devices from his. Companies claim the integration 74 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,240 would compromise user security and warn employees at Tesla, 75 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,000 SpaceX and X that they would need to surrender Apple products 76 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,200 at the door if the deal went through. 77 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,280 Now the rival. A rivalry has put Apple and XAI 78 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:38,640 on a collision course, especially as AI assistants 79 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,880 become core to smartphone operating systems and XAI 80 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,800 executives believe that Apple's control of the App Store allows 81 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,960 allows it to distort market competition at a curriculum 82 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,440 moment when consumers are just beginning to explore third party 83 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:53,880 AI tools. The lawsuit, that's if they 84 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,880 actually file it, would have legal weight complaints many 85 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,080 smaller developers have raised for years. 86 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:03,480 In the discovery phase, Apple would have to release all of 87 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,800 their analytics for AI apps. They'd have to release 88 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,640 everything from the inception of the app getting accepted into 89 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,960 the Apple Store. I've had numerous apps be 90 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:19,320 accepted into the Apple Store. And when you do that, your, your 91 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:24,160 app is checked out by people, They make sure it's fine, make 92 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,120 sure everything works well. And then they add it to the 93 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,120 Apple store. And pretty quickly after that, 94 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,160 you can see your, your analytics start to rise. 95 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:40,640 I've had a few apps that are, that were trending in the 96 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,080 entertainment sector. I also had them on the Android 97 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,640 store back in the day. I had, OK, so this is a funny 98 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,480 one. I had an app called the Justin 99 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,080 Bieber Farter app. OK, this is just me being like, 100 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,400 I just goofed around one night and I developed this. 101 00:05:57,760 --> 00:05:59,800 I thought it was funny. You pushed on Justin Bieber a 102 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,720 picture of Justin Bieber's belly or Justin Bieber, you pressed on 103 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:04,680 his belly and he would make a fart noise. 104 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,840 And it was just a random Farter noise, right? 105 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:14,360 And at one point it was, you know, I was making a good side 106 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,520 hustle from the money that I was making for this Farter app. 107 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,000 I think it was $0.99 to download. 108 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:22,560 And people loved it. So I made a few others and they 109 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:24,480 tanked. But the Justin Bieber 1 was 110 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,800 pretty popular. So let's make a little side 111 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:29,080 hustle. I think I, I think I made a 112 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,160 little side hustle from it. I'm not sure if that's true. 113 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,160 So OK, so just you know, I'm sure I can look up the stats and 114 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,640 find out, but I made a little bit of money from it. 115 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,200 I don't know if that was the one that was my side hustle, that it 116 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,560 was a long time ago, like 15 years ago or something. 117 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:44,360 So that was a long, long time ago. 118 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:49,440 But even back then, you could literally see your analytics 119 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:54,040 within minutes of like sending your app up to the App Store. 120 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,480 And I'm sure Elon Musk has seen the same thing. 121 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,520 He saw his apps. Of course mine was not on the 122 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:02,440 scale of Elon. Of course. 123 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,360 I mean the Justin Bieber Farter app wouldn't be on the same 124 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,400 scale as something from Elon and XAI and Grok and X. 125 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,680 Nothing like that or or chat TPT. 126 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,840 But he could see his stats improve over time. 127 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,640 Shoot straight up because one, he has multiple millions of 128 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:26,760 people following on X who he can blast something out to and like 129 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,800 tell them that the the app is live, go download it and he has 130 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,360 so many fans that of course they're going to go download it. 131 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,160 You know, millions of people probably downloaded the app 132 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:38,840 immediately, hundreds of thousands immediately. 133 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:44,720 And of course, Elon takes that as you know, he has the top 134 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:46,680 spot, which of course he probably did. 135 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:48,520 He probably did have the top spot for a little bit. 136 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,760 And you know, like I was saying, does it coincide with the Chat 137 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:57,360 GPTG PT-5 release? And does it coincide with other 138 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:04,480 chat bots releases or something like, you know, Claude or 139 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:06,160 something? Maybe there was a, a release of 140 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,160 something else at that point. So we're not 100% sure. 141 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:13,080 I don't know the statistics of when he released the app and 142 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,240 what timing it was or what other apps were released at the time 143 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,120 or anything like that. So we're going to take it with a 144 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,760 grain of salt what he's saying. And also, Apple has not 145 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,960 responded to Elon Musk's threats. 146 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:26,920 Of course they didn't because they're a giant company. 147 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:29,120 They have to get their lawyers involved. 148 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,679 They're not going to directly engage Elon Musk at this point. 149 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,600 Elon Musk has a way of saying things that is very harsh and 150 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:40,919 very straightforward and straight to the point. 151 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,600 Apple has a more subdued take on things. 152 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,560 They're pointing to developer guides and ranking policies that 153 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:54,320 rely on user behavior, download velocity, and also retention. 154 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:58,480 Those are the three things that Apple says are important to 155 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:00,280 climb the charts. They basically have an 156 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,680 algorithm. The algo tells you what about 157 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:05,640 the user behavior? Are they downloading things? 158 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,800 How fast are they downloading? You know, do you have 10 159 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,840 downloads per second or do you have 100 downloads per second? 160 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:17,840 Does that waiver, you know, do you have, you know, how many, 161 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:19,480 how many downloads do you have in the first hour? 162 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:21,680 And if that spikes, that's great. 163 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:25,280 But if it tips in the second hour, the algorithm goes maybe 164 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:29,160 people don't like it as much. So, you know, there's download 165 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:30,920 philosophy, behavior and retention. 166 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,240 Also like how many people actually open the app? 167 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:34,880 If they download it, what do they do with it? 168 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:39,040 You know, Apple has also defended its right to curate 169 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,280 Apple Store content based on internal ranking algorithms and 170 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:46,360 performance thresholds. So with the Apple user 171 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,760 agreement, I've seen this numerous times because I've had 172 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:52,560 to read these things and because I've developed apps. 173 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,840 They do say this. They're they do have internal 174 00:09:57,840 --> 00:09:59,800 rankings, they have performance thresholds. 175 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,600 And even with podcasts, they do the same thing. 176 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,160 So if you are a popular podcast and this podcast has been in the 177 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,800 top 20 in the top 15 of technology podcasts before and 178 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,920 it's usually in the top 50, the rankings. 179 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:18,960 It's it is velocity. It is like if you get a killer, 180 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,240 one killer episode, it has a Halo effect on all your other 181 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,040 episodes. People might subscribe to your 182 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:26,880 show and that boosts you up a little bit. 183 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,800 People think, you know, Apple podcast doesn't have an 184 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,360 algorithm, but they definitely do and it's in their terms of 185 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,040 service. So there's a, you know, the 186 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,360 public nature of Musk accusation has triggered speculation 187 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:46,880 throughout the Internet. You know, they need to prove 188 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:49,320 deliberate manipulation from Apple. 189 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,440 They need to, of course, in the discovery phase, if they do 190 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,000 bring this to court, if Apple doesn't just settle with Elon, 191 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,560 which they probably won't, they have a, you know, they have all 192 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,240 the money in the world, so they won't side with Elon and they're 193 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:05,640 not going to, you know, they're not going to probably settle 194 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:07,400 with him. But also if they go to 195 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:16,920 discovery, Elon's lawyers may make them distribute their 196 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,920 algorithm to the outside world, which is not good. 197 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:25,560 So if other people find out how the algorithm works, they can 198 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:29,040 manipulate it. And that's not what Apple wants. 199 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:30,600 So we're going to see how this works out. 200 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,720 You know, there's the App Store rankings are shaped by multiple 201 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:40,560 variables, download rate, session duration too, and also 202 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:42,680 user reviews. So if you had a download rate 203 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:46,120 that was super high, but your session duration was very low, 204 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:52,600 you know, the download rate would be how fast X amount of 205 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,000 people download the app, right? Like if you had a million people 206 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,560 download your app in the first day, that's great, but if only 207 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:05,720 50,000 of them opened it up or, you know, opened it up for a 208 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,800 long, you know, like a long amount of time, the session 209 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,200 duration is very low. It's called audience retention, 210 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:17,120 right? So you can see that if it was 211 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:21,920 downloaded that many times and it wasn't used, then they're not 212 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:24,160 going to keep pushing it through the algorithm because no one's 213 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:26,840 using the app actually. So why would they keep promoting 214 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,520 it? And also user reviews, you know, 215 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:31,640 if everybody's giving it a five star review, that's great. 216 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,640 But if people are saying one star review and review bombing 217 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:38,160 it as ones, of course it's going to fall off. 218 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:43,880 So unless XAI can produce internal Apple communications or 219 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:48,800 clear anomalies and ranking logic, the case is going to be 220 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,200 very difficult to win. And that's all going to happen 221 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:55,760 in the discovery phase. So Musk has made it clear he's 222 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,240 willing to take the fight public to He has all the money to do 223 00:12:58,240 --> 00:12:59,320 it, too. He doesn't care. 224 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,720 He warned that Apple's behavior damages fair access to markets 225 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:05,160 and sends a message that competing with Apple carries 226 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:07,960 consequences. He framed the threat of legal 227 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,680 action as necessary to protect AI innovation from being crushed 228 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,320 by what he sees as dominant gatekeepers. 229 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,680 Now, some people think that Elon is a jealous type of person. 230 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:26,320 He's a very, let's let's just say dominant personality, and he 231 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,080 always wants to win. And if he doesn't win, he sues 232 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:30,760 people. If he doesn't get his way, he 233 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:35,040 sues people. He feels that a legal argument 234 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:39,160 is the best way to win. And maybe he is doing this for 235 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,920 the right reasons. Maybe he does have some internal 236 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:48,000 information that shows something that Apple isn't ready to show 237 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,240 us. Maybe he does have some some 238 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,400 documentation from his analytics that show that people not only 239 00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:00,720 downloaded the app at a record rate, but opened it up and used 240 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:04,600 it for a long amount of time and also gave a five star ratings. 241 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,400 Maybe Elon has that, maybe he has that. 242 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,600 So I'm going to look this up live right now as we're doing 243 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:16,520 this. Let's see if if we can do this. 244 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,080 So this is, this is the thing that we usually don't do AI 245 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,360 assistant, they have 4.9 stars right now #2 in productivity. 246 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:28,680 So they're #2 they're not number one, but they're number 2IN 247 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,080 productivity at this point, right behind ChatGPT. 248 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:36,640 So the things that Elon was talking about, and this is for 249 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,080 the iPhone, for the iPad, Let's find out if he's even up there. 250 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:43,680 If if Grok is even on there, it's ChatGPT, good notes and 251 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,800 then top free iPad apps. The good notes, the Netflix 252 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:54,920 notability, Prime Video, those are the top apps in general for 253 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:01,440 you know, for the iPad and the top charts for free apps. 254 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:08,320 Grok is still number six. So it's chat GBTT on her dating 255 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:13,320 advice, whatever that is T dating advice, Threads parent 256 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:18,640 Square and then Grok. So and that's just the top free 257 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:20,840 app. So Grok is the top 6, which is 258 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:24,440 really great. Threads is 4, which very 259 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,320 surprising to me. I didn't think Threads was that 260 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:32,760 popular, but it's funny that Threads is also beating another 261 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,800 one of Elon's companies at this point. 262 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:38,600 So, yeah, but it's really strange. 263 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,120 And this is in the United States at 8:40 AM. 264 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:47,920 And then all the Google 7, you know, 10/11/12, you know, Google 265 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:52,640 Apps, Maps, Chrome, Gmail, TikTok is number 13. 266 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:56,600 Yeah. So I don't, I don't see this 267 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:58,800 chord, you know, I don't see Elon's app. 268 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:05,680 Oh, X is #38X is 38. That's wild. 269 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:10,360 And then threads is 4. That's crazy. 270 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:19,600 So threads is 4X is 38 OK that this race very weird to me 271 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,920 because I didn't expect threads to be that big then what? 272 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,880 Not cap cut, TikTok, things like that. 273 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,000 So Elon's in good company. He's in the top six with Crock. 274 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:30,280 We'll see how it works out for him. 275 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:37,280 Hopefully he can figure out why he's not top free app on Apple 276 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:39,440 App Store. But I mean, it's still pretty 277 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,000 good. Top six. 278 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,320 Let me know in the comments of whatever podcast app you're on 279 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,520 right now. Do you think it's good for Grok 280 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:48,400 to be in the top 6? I think it's great. 281 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,680 It's getting millions of downloads, probably 4.9 stars. 282 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,240 Let's read a couple of these reviews. 283 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,560 Let's see. Bloody amazing. 284 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,680 When I got the review request, I was right in the middle of doing 285 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,760 something in the Grok app. I asked Grap how I could import 286 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,760 a lot of PDF copies. Ham radio I still have from the 287 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,400 80s and 90s. I asked how I could create a 288 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,720 model that would answer questions about ham radio. 289 00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:15,560 Grock not only gave me the answers of how to do it, but it 290 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,880 used examples within its answer that a ham radio operator might 291 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:20,880 use. Like what's the length of an 292 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,000 antenna for 20? OK, so 55 stars. 293 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:29,040 JWMC, man, I think, I mean, we're trying to, we're trying to 294 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,720 solve this, right? I see five stars across the 295 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:37,240 board. Oh, here's a three star listens 296 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,920 to your private conversations. Great app, except for new 297 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:42,800 microphone features. Several times over the past 298 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:45,760 several weeks, while using the app in text mode, grok suddenly, 299 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,040 without warning switches to microphone mode and starts 300 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,000 glibly commenting on private conversations it is overhearing 301 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,880 that I'm having with an actual human. 302 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,080 This most often happens when holding phone in left hand and 303 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:01,760 using a left thumb to Scroll down by swiping up. 304 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,280 My use of left thumb scrolling became a habit because the 305 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:11,440 horrible UI design puts a jump to bottom icon directly in path 306 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,280 of right thumb scrolling hitting it. 307 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:18,040 OK, I oh here we go. I discovered the cause. 308 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:22,080 Left thumb forward scrolling can apparently be seen as a left 309 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:26,520 swipe by some hidden goblin deep inside Grok. 310 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,200 Apparently the Grok app is treating this as a mic on 311 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,280 request. All other iPhone level gestures 312 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,840 turned off never used them for exactly this reason. 313 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,880 The left swiped open mic is not documented and there's no option 314 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,840 to disable the gesture or remove mic privileges from the app 315 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:47,720 until it's fixed. OK, so we have a few three 316 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,760 stars, and here's another one because the five stars are just 317 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:52,480 glowing reviews and we all know that those are going to be 318 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,440 great. So here's this one by recruiter 319 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,600 Ray. I am in a tough place trying to 320 00:18:57,600 --> 00:18:59,760 figure out how to best invest my time and money. 321 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,240 In one sense, I'm paying the $30 monthly for ChatGPT premium 322 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,240 already and generally pretty happy. 323 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,120 With that said, I was intrigued by the performance specs of Grok 324 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,120 plus I like Elon Musk. I started using it, would often 325 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:13,400 compare the results from Grok 3 and ChatGPT 4. 326 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,200 Frankly, I sometimes get annoyed by Grok's casual slang like 327 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:19,200 responses. If I want a super casual 328 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,480 unprofessional response and I'll prompt for it. 329 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:23,400 But I prefer the default to be clean and crisp. 330 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:26,920 Also, I found Grok 3 to be somewhat critical, bordering 331 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,280 cynical of some topics. But I have priced the same with 332 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:35,120 Chacha PT on occasion as well. OK, so they're basically saying 333 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,920 they don't like the way that it's just chill and it talks 334 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:40,320 like, you know, one of your buddies. 335 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:46,880 It's chilling. So there's there's a couple. 336 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:48,600 So there's not that many reviews either. 337 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:53,880 So there's, OK, so people haven't written reviews, 338 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,360 apparently not that many, but there are five star people that 339 00:19:57,360 --> 00:19:59,040 go to five stars but haven't written anything yet. 340 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:03,160 Four 488,000 rankings for that. And we're just trying to do a 341 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,440 little bit of sleuthing here. So Grok has a lot of ratings. 342 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:15,640 Let's go back to ChatGPT. 3.4 million ratings and Elon thinks 343 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:22,080 his chat app is more powerful. So I was like, OK, so they're 344 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:27,600 like not a lot of people did the ratings for for Croc, right? 345 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:32,200 And so 3.4 million ratings for ChatGPT, everything is four or 346 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:36,360 five stars, 4.9 out of five with four, 3.4 million ratings. 347 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:47,840 That is incredible. 3/28/2025 you know four 27531 let's see 348 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,680 there's 527 let's see let's do a four-star because that's one of 349 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:52,360 the ones here. I recently downloaded the app 350 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:54,480 and overall it's a great platform with excellent 351 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:56,200 potential. However, I did encounter a 352 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,360 couple of issues with logging in that I feel need to be 353 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:01,000 addressed. This could be approved by 354 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,400 streamlining the login flow. I do hope the developers take 355 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,520 note of the login challenges and work on improving the aspect of 356 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:09,520 the app. In conclusion, while the app has 357 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,680 its share of login issues, it still holds promise. 358 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,480 I'm optimistic that updates what happened, etcetera, etcetera. 359 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:25,080 So it seems like not only Grok doesn't have as many ratings, 360 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:29,400 488,000 ratings, so not even a million, like not even half a 361 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:35,880 million ratings compared to ChatGPT, but most of them are 362 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:39,840 like they're OK, you know, like it's 4.9% or 4.9 stars. 363 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:45,240 So they're good ratings, but not as many as ChatGPT. 364 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:50,440 So I can see where where Apple is like, look, ChatGPT is way 365 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,840 more how many downloads does it get per per like minute, you 366 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,240 know, And also the rankings are super high. 367 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:06,280 So yeah, it's it seems like one of those things that it's just 368 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,240 going to be left up to Elon to prove some prove his information 369 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,120 on this thing. Let me know what you think. 370 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,440 I want to know if you have comments on your podcast app. 371 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:16,800 Let me know what you think about this. 372 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,360 Because if Elon has a problem with it, he's going to have to 373 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:23,120 prove it in court. And if he can prove it in court, 374 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:30,000 he could steer public in regulatory oversight for app 375 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,720 stores even more than it already has. 376 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:39,200 So he's already reshaped policies and sectors from like 377 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:46,200 AI use in automobiles, like self driving, also direct to consumer 378 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,920 auto sales, things like that. Digital advertising too. 379 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:54,120 He's reshaped all of those policies just from saying this 380 00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:55,600 isn't fair. I'm going to take you to court 381 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,560 and then the, you know, take either governments or companies 382 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,120 to court. And if he wins, he can reshape 383 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:05,440 these policies. Now, if he follows through with 384 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:14,560 this, it will be up to Apple to prove that they are in the right 385 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,720 here. It's also up to Elon to prove 386 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,360 that Apple is in the wrong. So we're going to see how this 387 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:22,680 plays out. This is going to be a real 388 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,360 really wild one. But yeah, let me know what you 389 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:28,960 think. Hey, thank you so much for 390 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,160 listening today. I really do appreciate your 391 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:32,720 support. If you could take a second and 392 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:35,640 hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast 393 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,640 platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly 394 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:40,320 appreciate it. It helps out the show 395 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,960 tremendously and you'll never miss an episode. 396 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:46,520 And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you 397 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,280 caught up quickly. And please, if you want to 398 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:54,760 support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero. 399 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,040 And please take care of yourselves and each other. 400 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:58,360 And I'll see you tomorrow.