Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, alleging the artificial intelligence company stole trade secrets to create its own hardware device. The suit claims OpenAI poached Apple employees, coaxing them to hand over confidential material, product designs, and other tightly held information.
Allegations of employee poaching and confidential data theft
“Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products,” an Apple spokesperson said in an email. The complaint names Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and a former Apple vice-president, and Chang Liu, another former Apple employee now at OpenAI. Apple alleges Tan took information about Apple suppliers and encouraged job candidates to bring actual parts to interviews for “show and tell” sessions. Liu is accused of taking an Apple laptop and using an authentication bug to download dozens of confidential hardware-related files.
OpenAI responds to the lawsuit
Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI, said the company was reviewing the court filing. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” he added. “We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
Background: from partnership to rivalry
Apple’s lawsuit marks a sharp turnaround for the two tech giants, which announced a major partnership in 2024. That deal involved Apple integrating OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, into the operating systems for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. However, when Apple showcased its revamped voice assistant Siri last month, its AI component was based on Google’s Gemini AI model, rather than ChatGPT. Tensions began to simmer last year when OpenAI spent $6.4bn to acquire a hardware startup founded by former Apple design guru Jony Ive, indicating the AI titan’s foray into hardware. Ive’s startup, io Products, is also named in Apple’s lawsuit.
Apple’s legal demands and statement
“OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” Apple wrote in its complaint. The company is seeking damages and a court order that would block OpenAI from possessing or using its trade secrets. The Apple spokesperson said: “Our teams are constantly developing breakthrough technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously.”
