Apple sues OpenAI over alleged theft of hardware trade secrets

In short: Apple has sued OpenAI and several individuals, claiming Apple’s confidential hardware information was taken and used to help OpenAI build devices.

What happened

Apple filed a lawsuit in US district court in San Jose on Friday against OpenAI, its chief hardware officer Tang Tan, and others, including OpenAI’s io Products unit and engineer Chang Liu. Apple says the defendants misused Apple trade secrets, which are private company know-how, like secret recipes, that are meant to stay inside the company.

According to the lawsuit, Tan spent 24 years at Apple and oversaw iPhone product design. Apple claims Tan and other OpenAI recruiters encouraged Apple employees who were leaving, or considering leaving, to bring unreleased parts, prototypes, confidential designs, and internal documents. Apple also alleges Tan coached recruits on how to avoid Apple’s security checks and even asked candidates to bring “actual parts” to interviews for “show and tell,” including items like batteries and logic boards (the main circuit board inside a device).

Apple says its investigation began after it noticed Liu did not return a company laptop and discussed still having access to Apple’s internal file-sharing system. The lawsuit claims Liu downloaded dozens of confidential files and advised another Apple employee on how to copy files without attracting attention.

Apple says it raised concerns with OpenAI in February but did not get a response, which led to the lawsuit. OpenAI and Tan did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Wired.

Why it matters

Apple and OpenAI have worked together since 2024 to bring ChatGPT to Apple devices, but this lawsuit shows how quickly partnerships can turn into fights when valuable product plans are involved. If Apple convinces a judge, it could win an order to stop OpenAI from using the disputed information and could seek money damages, which may slow or reshape OpenAI’s plans to sell its own devices.

Source: Wired