Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company used stolen trade secrets to accelerate its push into consumer hardware. The lawsuit claims that former Apple employees downloaded confidential files, coached recruits on avoiding security reviews, and were told to bring proprietary Apple parts and prototypes to OpenAI job interviews.

Details of the Lawsuit

The 41-page complaint was filed on July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit names former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, along with OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC, and io Products LLC. Apple alleges trade secret misappropriation against all defendants and breach of contract against Liu and Tan.

The lawsuit does not allege that customer data was exposed or that Apple’s ChatGPT integration will end. Apple’s complaint specifically states that the agreement governing ChatGPT’s integration into Apple Intelligence is not part of the case. The dispute instead centers on OpenAI’s consumer hardware plans.

Allegations Against Former Apple Employees

Liu spent more than eight years at Apple as a senior system electrical engineer for the iPhone before joining OpenAI in January. Apple alleges Liu failed to return an Apple-issued laptop and later used a former colleague’s authenticated Apple computer. The company also claims he exploited a previously unknown authentication flaw to access Apple’s network storage after leaving.

Tan worked at Apple for 24 years and most recently served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch. He later co-founded io Products and now serves as OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. Apple alleges Tan used internal Apple project names during OpenAI interviews to ask candidates about unreleased products.

Original reporting: The Dallas Express — read the source article.