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Apple is suing OpenAI, accusing the major AI firm and industry partner of attempting to access and steal confidential information about their tools, processes and unreleased products through job interviews with their employees.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in a California federal court, accuses OpenAI and two former employees of stealing Apple’s confidential information and handing it over to the ChatGPT maker when they joined the company.
The former employees include Tang Yew Tan, a 24-year veteran of Apple who served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch before joining OpenAI as its chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, who is now at OpenAI after spending eight years as a senior system electrical engineer at Apple.
OpenAI “has been instructing” Apple employees to bring proprietary information like design prototypes, tools, or communications with vendors to interviews to “divulge” details about their work, attorneys for Apple wrote Friday.
“Apple does not bring this action lightly. Apple operates in the most competitive markets in the world and focuses on creating and shipping the very best products and services that embody its innovations,” Apple’s legal team said in the filing. “But it cannot tolerate the theft of its trade secrets. In light of the troubling evidence it has seen so far, Apple is left with no choice.”
As a result of the alleged theft, Apple’s attorneys argue OpenAI’s hardware business “now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
The Hill reached out to OpenAI for comment.
The suit comes amid growing tensions between the two technology giants, which first partnered in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into Apple’s devices. Reports emerged in May that their partnership has strained and OpenAI was considering legal action over failing to get the expected benefits from the deal.
Upon leaving Apple last January, Liu allegedly did not confirm he returned his devices or scheduled an interview. Liu took his Apple-issued work laptop with him, which he accessed once employed by OpenAI, attorneys for Apple said, and “celebrated” it in a message to a former Apple colleague.
Over the following weeks, Liu allegedly accessed and downloaded dozens of Apple’s confidential files related to hardware while developing for OpenAI, and he coached a former Apple colleague on how to avoid scrutiny when leaving the company.
Apple said its investigation found other former Apple employees also emailed themselves the company’s confidential information to personal accounts when leaving for OpenAI, while some used the trade-secret information during hardware development.
The lawsuit accuses Tan of meeting with OpenAI or its collaborators before he left Apple and discussing company meetings with a supplier, in addition to emailing himself information about Apple’s suppliers.
At OpenAI, Tan has allegedly sought to obtain insider knowledge from Apple employees when interviewing them for roles at the ChatGPT maker, asking about the status of unannounced Apple products and directing candidates to bring “actual parts” for “show and tell” sessions.
The filing also notes Apple raised concerns to OpenAI during the early stages of its investigation in February, alleging the company did not respond.
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