Apple is suing OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft

Apple filed a lawsuit on Friday against OpenAI over allegations of trade secret theft and breach of contract.

The iPhone maker alleges that this misconduct, which it says reveals a pattern of theft from OpenAI employees who previously worked at Apple, was directed by senior leadership at OpenAI, including chief hardware officer Tang Tan.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Tan of using secret Apple project codenames during the OpenAI hiring process, asking job candidates to bring Apple hardware components to their interviews, coaching departing Apple employees on how to evade the company’s security procedures, and requesting details about the company’s unannounced products.

Before joining OpenAI, Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as vice president of iPhone and Apple Watch product design.

These accusations come at a time when OpenAI is rumored to be developing its first hardware product, which will likely compete with the iPhone. In April, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that this device could be a smartphone based on artificial intelligence agents rather than apps. If true, it would be one of the biggest threats to Apple’s core hardware business yet.

OpenAI last year acquired former lead designer Jony Ive’s startup Apple in a $6.5 billion deal to help the AI ​​company with its hardware ambitions. While io’s name was mentioned in the file, I was not.

Tan is not the only OpenAI employee named in the new complaint. Apple also alleges that Zhang Liu, who spent eight years at Apple as a senior electrical and systems engineer, failed to return an Apple-issued laptop after leaving the company to work at OpenAI in 2026, and used the computer to download confidential technical documents from Apple.

Apple says in the complaint that the stolen documents included information about undisclosed technologies, features and products, including technical specifications, engineering presentations and proprietary project data.

Liu is also accused in the lawsuit of sharing confidential Apple information with other Apple employees applying for jobs at OpenAI, and advising at least one of them on what to study before an interview.

The company said in the complaint that it sent a letter to OpenAI in February to raise its concerns, but received no response.

It alleges that the behavior of these former employees is part of OpenAI’s strategy to extract Apple’s confidential information, which included asking Apple employees to bring designs and prototypes to their interviews, and answer questions about things like component and vendor selection processes.

Apple says its ongoing investigation revealed that OpenAI and its partners used confidential Apple information while the AI ​​model maker was developing its hardware product. For example, the filing mentions a proprietary metal-finishing technology that was used by OpenAI after it allegedly misled a partner into believing it had permission from Apple to do so.

Like many technology companies, Apple typically investigates potential trade secret theft or other inappropriate activity by analyzing communications that occurred on company-owned devices and reading its server logs. By taking the case to court, Apple will have an opportunity to learn more about the extent of the alleged operation through the legal discovery process.

Apple is asking the court to bar OpenAI from using or disclosing its trade secrets, require the company to return any confidential Apple materials, and preserve evidence related to the case.

“This is the tip of the iceberg. Apple lacked visibility into what was happening behind closed doors at OpenAI, as this misconduct was normalized and reified through leadership,” the filing said. “As a corollary, OpenAI’s fledgling hardware business now rests on shaky foundations, corrupted to the core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”

In a prepared statement, Apple also said the following:

“At Apple, our teams are constantly developing advanced technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously. Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting that individuals working at OpenAI wrongly mistook confidential Apple information regarding our technologies, processes, and unreleased products. We will always defend the hard work of our teams and their innovations, and take all appropriate steps to do so.”

OpenAI was asked for comment.

The file is available here, or you can read it below.

This story is developing and will be updated, and was originally published at 1:32 PM PT.