Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of stealing trade secrets to develop a new line of AI hardware that has yet to be unveiled. The complaint, lodged on Friday in federal court for the Northern District of California, describes what Apple characterises as a systematic effort to obtain confidential information about unreleased products, technical specifications and details of the iPhone maker's supply chain.
Alongside OpenAI, the suit names two former Apple employees who now work at the AI firm. Tang Tan, who helped design the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod and now serves as OpenAI's chief hardware officer, is a central figure in the case. The other named individual is Chang Liu, a former electrical engineer whom Apple says it had entrusted with some of its most sensitive product development before he departed earlier this year. The complaint also lists io Products, a hardware design firm co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive that OpenAI acquired last year.
According to the filing, Liu downloaded dozens of confidential hardware files, including engineering presentations, technical specifications and proprietary data relating to products that have not been released. He is also accused of instructing an Apple employee on how to bypass the company's security teams when copying sensitive files, actions Apple presents as evidence of a deliberate scheme.
The complaint levels separate allegations against Tan, claiming he used Apple's confidential project code names during OpenAI's recruiting process and asked job candidates to bring Apple hardware components to their interviews. Apple further alleges that he coached departing employees on how to evade its security procedures and sought information about the company's unannounced products, describing the conduct as reaching across every level of the effort.
The dispute unfolds against the backdrop of OpenAI's aggressive push into consumer hardware, which has included the acquisition of Ive's design studio and the recruitment of a large number of former Apple engineers, many from teams focused on custom chips and on-device artificial intelligence. The move has positioned the two companies as direct rivals in the emerging market for AI-native devices, intensifying an already tense relationship.
OpenAI rejected the accusations, stating that it has no interest in the trade secrets of other companies and that it remains focused on building innovative technology for people everywhere. The case, which could take months or years to resolve, is likely to draw close scrutiny across the technology industry, given the stakes involved in the race to define the next generation of computing devices and the talent that designs them.
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