Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, accusing the artificial intelligence company of stealing trade secrets to build its own hardware devices.
The complaint, reported by The Guardian, alleges that OpenAI poached multiple Apple employees and coaxed them into disclosing confidential materials, product designs, and other sensitive information.
Apple Seeks Damages and Injunction
“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.
The iPhone maker is seeking financial damages and a court order to prevent OpenAI from possessing or using its proprietary trade secrets.
“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,” the spokesperson added.
OpenAI responded by stating it was evaluating the lawsuit. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” said Drew Pusateri, an OpenAI spokesperson.
“We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
The lawsuit marks a major shift in relations after the two companies announced a partnership in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into Apple operating systems.
However, Apple recently showcased its revamped Siri voice assistant using Google’s Gemini AI model instead of OpenAI’s technology.
Tensions escalated last year when OpenAI spent $6.4 billion to acquire io Products, a hardware startup founded by former Apple design executive Jony Ive.
The lawsuit names both the startup and OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, Tang Yew Tan, who formerly served as a vice-president at Apple.
“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 the complaint.
Apple claims that Tan shared information about corporate suppliers and pressured job candidates to hand over sensitive materials during recruitment interviews.
“He has directed job candidates still working for Apple to bring ‘actual parts’ from Apple to their interviews for ‘show and tell’ sessions,” the complaint reads.
Another former employee named in the suit, Chang Liu, is accused of using an authentication vulnerability to download dozens of hardware files before leaving the company.
