Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. The iPhone maker accuses the creators of ChatGPT of illegally gaining access to trade secrets, confidential documents, and prototypes of unannounced devices through former employees. Apple believes that this data is being used to accelerate the development of OpenAI’s own hardware direction.
Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. The iPhone maker accuses the creators of ChatGPT of illegally gaining access to trade secrets, confidential documents, and prototypes of unannounced devices through former employees. Apple believes that this data is being used to accelerate the development of OpenAI’s own hardware direction.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is a sign of the strained relationship between the two tech companies, which have previously announced a partnership in the field of artificial intelligence, according to The New York Times.
The court documents allege that OpenAI encouraged Apple job candidates to disclose details of non-public projects and bring device components to interviews. Apple also alleges that OpenAI representatives misled one of its manufacturing partners to gain access to metalworking technology under the pretense of having Apple’s consent.
The defendants in the case include OpenAI and two former Apple employees: former head of iPhone and Apple Watch design Tang Tan (now head of hardware at OpenAI) and engineer Chang Liu. The latter is accused of downloading technical documents from a former colleague’s work laptop after he left Apple. The plaintiff also alleges that Tang Tan instructed engineers to bypass Apple’s security systems when they were fired.
«OpenAI’s hardware business is being built using misappropriated trade secrets,» Apple’s lawsuit states.
Apple sent a formal warning to OpenAI in February, but the plaintiff says the request went unanswered. The company is now seeking an injunction against the use of its trade secrets and the return of its intellectual property.
OpenAI spokesman Drew Pusateri denied the allegations. «We are not interested in other companies’ trade secrets. Our goal is to create innovative technologies that empower people around the world,» he said in a statement.
The dispute with Apple arose against the backdrop of the development of its own line of artificial intelligence devices under the leadership of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. To do this, the company acquired the design studio IO, founded by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive and Tang Tan, for $6.5 billion. Along with the acquisition of the studio, dozens of Apple specialists moved to OpenAI; in total, the company now employs more than 400 former employees of the corporation.
Meanwhile, the companies' formal technology partnership has undergone changes. In 2024, Apple integrated ChatGPT for a Siri update, but later the parties disagreed over the format of this integration. In January, Apple announced that it would bring in Google’s artificial intelligence technologies for its future products.
