Apple Sues OpenAI for 'Theft of Hardware Trade Secrets,' Turning Former AI Allies into Rivals

Apple has filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT developer OpenAI, alleging the theft of its trade secrets.

On July 10 (local time), Apple filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, naming OpenAI and two former Apple employees who moved to the company as defendants, citing misappropriation of trade secrets.

In the complaint, Apple claims that Tang Tan, who served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch during his 24-year tenure at Apple and is now OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer (CHO), and Chang Liu, who worked as a senior system electrical engineer at Apple for eight years, stole internal confidential information before joining OpenAI.

Apple alleges that after Chang Liu joined OpenAI in January, he failed to return his company-issued laptop and exploited authentication vulnerabilities to access Apple's internal servers, downloading dozens of confidential files, including unreleased product information and circuit board manufacturing details.

The company also accused Tang Tan of exfiltrating supply chain and industry summary documents to his personal email account before his departure.

In particular, the complaint states that Tang Tan led hiring interviews at OpenAI, where he allegedly pressured Apple employees seeking to join the company to disclose internal information and bring physical components. He is also accused of systematically instructing them to remain at Apple as long as possible even after their hiring at OpenAI was confirmed.

Apple strongly criticized OpenAI, stating that the company stole trade secrets and confidential information at every level, from technical staff to the CHO. Apple asserted, "OpenAI's nascent hardware business is built on an unstable foundation, rotten at its core by illegally stolen trade secrets."

Apple stated that it had attempted to resolve the dispute out of court by requesting that OpenAI cease the relevant activities and destroy all confidential materials, but received no response, leading to the lawsuit.

If Apple's claims are proven true and the court grants its request, OpenAI would be forced to completely redesign its upcoming hardware devices to ensure they do not incorporate Apple's technology.

The defendants in Apple's lawsuit also include 'io,' a company founded by Jony Ive, the former Chief Design Officer (CDO) of Apple who oversaw the iconic designs of the iPhone, MacBook, and iMac.

io was acquired by OpenAI last year.

As recently as 2024, Apple and OpenAI maintained a close relationship, with Apple integrating the ChatGPT model into its newly unveiled 'Apple Intelligence.'

However, the relationship has since soured, as Apple selected Google's 'Gemini' as the AI model for its voice assistant 'Siri,' and OpenAI signaled its intent to compete in the hardware market through its acquisition of io.

Bloomberg reported that the two companies have since been in conflict over the acquisition of talent and technology.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.