Apple Sues OpenAI, Alleging Coordinated Theft of Trade Secrets

Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in a California federal court, accusing the ChatGPT maker of orchestrating a coordinated scheme to steal its trade secrets in order to build a rival line of consumer hardware devices.

The complaint, lodged in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, names OpenAI, its subsidiary io Products, and two former Apple employees as defendants. Apple alleges the theft occurred “at every level,” from members of OpenAI’s technical staff up to its Chief Hardware Officer, and was carried out in coordination with business partners.

Among the named defendants is Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI’s hardware chief and a former Apple vice president of product design. Apple claims Tan used insider knowledge of the company’s internal codenames to draw further confidential information out of Apple employees interviewing for roles at OpenAI, at times asking candidates to bring actual components, including batteries and logic boards, into interviews for what the lawsuit describes as show and tell sessions.

The suit also names Chang Liu, a former senior Apple engineer who joined OpenAI early this year. Apple alleges Liu failed to return a company laptop, later accessed a former colleague’s Apple computer using an authentication flaw, and downloaded dozens of confidential files covering unreleased products and technical specifications.

The dispute marks a striking reversal for two companies that entered a high profile partnership in 2024, when ChatGPT was integrated into the iPhone’s operating system. Tensions had reportedly been building since May, when OpenAI was said to be weighing its own legal action against Apple over claims the iPhone maker failed to adequately promote the partnership.

OpenAI acquired io Products, the hardware venture cofounded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Tan, in a deal valued at roughly six point five billion dollars last year. Ive himself is not named as a defendant, and the lawsuit does not accuse him of wrongdoing.

Apple is seeking damages, injunctions barring further use of its trade secrets, and an order compelling OpenAI to preserve evidence and return any proprietary material obtained through the alleged scheme. OpenAI had not issued a public response to the lawsuit at the time of this report.