Apple took OpenAI to federal court on Friday, July 10, accusing the ChatGPT maker of lifting its trade secrets to build a hardware device of its own.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It claims OpenAI hired away Apple staff and got them to hand over confidential material, product designs and other closely held information. It also names io Products, the device startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive that OpenAI bought last year. Ive himself is not named.
“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 accusations against two former employees
Apple points at OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple and left as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch. The complaint says he took information about Apple suppliers with him. It also says he told job candidates still working at Apple to bring “actual parts” to their interviews for “show and tell” sessions, where he and his team could draw out more confidential detail. Apple adds that he used its internal project code names while recruiting and coached departing staff on getting around the company’s security procedures.
The second person named is Chang Liu, an Apple engineer for eight years. According to the filing, Liu kept an Apple-issued laptop after he moved to OpenAI in 2026. Apple alleges he used an authentication bug to get into its internal network and pulled down “dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related files”, including technical specifications, engineering presentations and project data on unannounced products. He is also accused of advising at least one Apple colleague on what to study before an OpenAI interview.
Apple says it wrote to OpenAI in February and never got an answer. It also points to a proprietary metal finishing technique that OpenAI allegedly used after telling a partner it had Apple’s permission.
The complaint calls this “the tip of the iceberg” and says OpenAI’s hardware business “now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
OpenAI’s reply
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company was reviewing the filing. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” he said. “We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
Apple wants damages, plus a court order barring OpenAI from holding or using the material, requiring it to return anything confidential and to preserve evidence.
From partners to opponents
The two companies announced a partnership in 2024 that put ChatGPT inside the operating systems for iPhones, iPads and Macs. Last month, though, Apple showed off a revamped Siri built on Google’s Gemini model rather than ChatGPT. The friction began last year, when OpenAI spent a reported $6.4 billion on Ive’s startup. TechCrunch put the price at $6.5 billion.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested in April that OpenAI’s first device could be a smartphone that runs on AI agents instead of apps, which would hit Apple’s core business.
Sources
- Apple sues OpenAI, alleging artificial intelligence company stole trade secrets
- Apple sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft | TechCrunch
- Apple sues OpenAI over alleged theft of trade secrets | LinkedIn
Sources
- Apple sues OpenAI, alleging artificial intelligence company stole …
- Apple sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft – TechCrunch
