Apple has initiated legal action against OpenAI, alleging trade secret theft in a lawsuit filed on Friday in a federal court in North Carolina. The iPhone maker claims that the artificial intelligence lab has misappropriated its intellectual property to advance its own consumer hardware initiatives, according to CNBC.
“However, one thing is clear: at every level, from technical staff to the hardware director and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has stolen Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” Apple stated in its legal filing.
This lawsuit marks a significant escalation in tensions between the two American companies, which had previously collaborated in 2024 when ChatGPT was integrated into the iPhone operating system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had visited Apple’s headquarters to announce this partnership.
Relations between the firms have soured since last year, particularly after OpenAI disclosed its intentions to enter the hardware market by acquiring the startup IO Products, founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.4 billion.
In addition, Apple plans to release an updated version of Siri this fall, which will utilize Google’s AI models, Gemini, rather than ChatGPT.
Details of Apple’s Allegations in the Lawsuit
Most of Apple’s allegations pertain to former employees who were either interviewed by OpenAI or joined the company. Apple accuses OpenAI’s hardware director, Tang Tan, a former Apple vice president, of soliciting Apple employees participating in interviews at OpenAI to disclose Apple trade secrets.
“He asked candidates still working at Apple to bring ‘real pieces’ from Apple to their interviews for ‘show-and-tell’ sessions where he and his team at OpenAI could gain further confidential information from Apple,” the filing states.
Additionally, Apple claims that OpenAI instructed employees leaving Apple on how to evade security protocols upon departure, and that Chang Liu, a former employee who joined OpenAI, stole an Apple laptop. Liu is also named as a defendant.
Furthermore, Apple asserts that OpenAI is encouraging hardware firms to utilize a metal finishing technique created by Apple while misleading partners into believing they have Apple’s permission to do so.
OpenAI has not disclosed details regarding its upcoming hardware products or their release timelines, but Altman stated in November that the initial prototypes had been completed.
