Apple's lawsuit claims OpenAI's hardware chief directed employees to bring Apple parts for 'show and tell' interviews. The suit seeks damages and an injunction.
Apple sued OpenAI on Friday in federal court in Northern California, accusing the artificial intelligence lab of stealing trade secrets to develop its own consumer hardware. The lawsuit names OpenAI's chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, and a former Apple employee, Chang Liu, as defendants.
The lawsuit marks a sharp reversal for the two companies. They entered a high-profile partnership in 2024 when ChatGPT was integrated into the iPhone's operating system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited Apple's headquarters for that announcement. Relations cooled after OpenAI announced plans to enter the hardware industry last year, when it bought former Apple designer Jony Ive's startup IO Products for $6.4 billion.
Apple's updated Siri assistant, due this fall, uses Google's Gemini AI models instead of ChatGPT.
Most of Apple's allegations involve former employees who interviewed with or joined OpenAI. Apple alleged that Tan directed job candidates still working at Apple to bring actual parts from Apple to interviews for "show and tell" sessions. "He has directed job candidates still working for Apple to bring 'actual parts' from Apple to their interviews for 'show and tell' sessions in which he and his team at OpenAI can elicit still more Apple confidential information," Apple said.
Apple also alleged that OpenAI coached departing employees on how to evade security processes when leaving the iPhone maker. Chang Liu, a former employee who joined OpenAI, stole an Apple laptop, the suit claims.
Apple said it believes OpenAI is asking hardware firms to carry out a metal finishing technique that Apple invented, while misleading the partner to believe they had Apple's permission.
"Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple's secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products," an Apple representative told CNBC.
IO Products is also named in the lawsuit. OpenAI has not announced when or what its hardware products will be. Altman said in November that the lab had finished its first prototypes.
Apple did not comment on whether the lawsuit will affect the partnership with OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. The company is seeking damages, injunctions, and an order to force OpenAI to stop using its trade secrets.
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