Apple is suing OpenAI and two of its former staff who presently work on the AI firm, for theft of its commerce secrets and techniques. In a lawsuit filed in federal court docket Friday, Apple alleges intensive misconduct by the corporate it as soon as partnered with, describing its {hardware} enterprise as “rotten to its core.”
The lawsuit additionally names io Merchandise, the Jony Ive-led {hardware} startup acquired by OpenAI final 12 months, as complicit within the commerce secret theft. It does not point out Ive by title, however described the group as complicit in “a coordinated sample of misconduct at an institutional stage” inside OpenAI.
The submitting additionally names Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer at Apple, and Tang Yew Tan, a former Apple VP who’s now OpenAI’s Chief {Hardware} Officer. Apple claims that each Liu and Tan shared commerce secrets and techniques with OpenAI. Liu, based on Apple’s legal professionals, “surreptitiously accessed and downloaded dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related recordsdata, together with voluminous, detailed details about unreleased merchandise, engineering shows, technical specs, and proprietary challenge information.”
Apple additionally claims that Tan “has directed job candidates nonetheless working for Apple to convey ‘precise components’ from Apple to their interviews for ‘present and inform’ periods wherein he and his crew at OpenAI can elicit nonetheless extra Apple confidential data.” In all, Apple says that greater than 400 of its former staff have taken jobs at OpenAI and that the corporate’s interview course of if structured “to attempt to solicit extra confidential Apple data.”
OpenAI did not instantly reply to a request for touch upon the allegations. The corporate “by no means responded” when Apple reached out about its issues, the lawsuit says. Drew Pusateri, OpenAI’s director of strategic communications, tweeted that the corporate has “no real interest in different corporations’ commerce secrets and techniques” in response to the swimsuit.
Our assertion in response to this swimsuit: We have now no real interest in different corporations’ commerce secrets and techniques. We stay targeted on constructing progressive know-how that empowers folks all over the place. https://t.co/lIxGW6hyz5
— Drew Pusateri (@drewpusateri) July 10, 2026
Within the submitting, Apple says that it is seemingly not conscious of the complete extent of OpenAI’s misconduct. “This a lot is obvious, nonetheless: at each stage, from members of its Technical Workers to its Chief {Hardware} Officer, and in coordination with enterprise companions, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s commerce secrets and techniques and confidential data,” it says. “As a pure consequence, OpenAI’s nascent {hardware} enterprise now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its unlawful reliance on misappropriated commerce secrets and techniques.”
The lawsuit comes as Apple remains to be partnering with OpenAI for Apple Intelligence. In a footnote, Apple says that its current settlement, which permits the iPhone maker to combine chatGPT into its units, “will not be at challenge right here” and that its allegations of commerce secret theft have “no connection” to the association.
Replace, July 10, 7:30PM ET: This story was up to date after publish to incorporate a public remark from Drew Pusateri, OpenAI’s director of strategic communication.
