Apple Sues OpenAI, Says Hardware Push Stole Secrets

Apple put ChatGPT inside its devices. Now Apple sues OpenAI in federal court, accusing the AI company and former Apple staff of stealing confidential product information to build a consumer hardware business Apple says is “rotten to its core.”

Apple filed the lawsuit Friday against OpenAI, io Products, Tang Yew Tan, and Chang Liu, alleging “a pattern of theft” tied to Apple’s confidential product development, engineering work, manufacturing techniques, partner relationships, and unreleased products, according to BBC World.

Apple sues OpenAI over a hardware push it says was built on stolen secrets

The complaint marks a sharp break between two companies that recently looked more like partners than courtroom opponents. Apple had added ChatGPT into its devices as it pushed to offer more AI features.

Apple’s core claim is blunt: OpenAI allegedly used former Apple employees to get inside information as it tried to enter consumer hardware.

“OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” Apple said in its lawsuit.

The named individual defendants are not junior hires. Tang Yew Tan spent 24 years at Apple and was a vice president of design for iPhone and Apple Watch. He is now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. Chang Liu worked at Apple for eight years as a senior electrical engineer.

Apple says at least two long-time Apple workers who left for OpenAI took part in the alleged pattern by emailing themselves internal Apple information. TechCrunch reported that the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and accuses Tan of using Apple’s confidential project code names in recruiting, asking candidates to bring Apple hardware components to interviews, and coaching departing employees on avoiding Apple security procedures.

OpenAI pushed back through a spokesperson, while saying it is still reviewing the complaint.

“We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets,” OpenAI spokesman Drew Pusateri told the BBC.

Pusateri added that OpenAI is “focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”

Apple says the suit is based on “significant evidence.” It is asking the court to immediately prohibit OpenAI from obtaining or using alleged Apple confidential information and is seeking unspecified monetary damages. TechCrunch also reported that Apple is asking the court to require return of confidential Apple materials and preserve evidence related to the case.

OpenAI’s device ambitions now face Apple’s trade secret playbook

The lawsuit lands at a sensitive point for OpenAI as the company pushes further into consumer hardware and faces scrutiny over how that effort was built.

OpenAI acquired io Products, the design startup founded by long-time Apple executive Jony Ive, last year. Apple named io Products in the suit, though the supplied reports do not say Ive himself is a defendant.

Apple’s allegation is not just that former employees remembered how Apple works. The company claims OpenAI tried to extract specific confidential material through hiring and interviews.

Apple says OpenAI interviewers allegedly told prospective hires to:

• Bring parts: “bring 'actual parts' as 'props' from Apple for 'show and tell'”
• Discuss protected work: share information tied to sensitive projects and unreleased products
• Expose operations: reveal details involving partner relationships, manufacturing techniques, and product plans

That distinction matters. Employees can carry general skills and experience from one company to another. Trade secret cases turn on whether protected information was actually taken, whether it was confidential, and whether a new employer used or encouraged its use.

Apple’s filing tries to frame the case as organized conduct, not accidental overreach by a few hires. The company accused the defendants of “acting in concert and as an enterprise, exploiting Apple's confidential information to advance OpenAI's efforts to enter the consumer hardware market.”

For readers tracking Apple’s hardware posture more broadly, XOOMAR has covered the company’s device strategy from other angles, including Apple AirTags Crush $2 Bluetooth Trackers Where It Hurts and Apple Broadcom Deal Pulls $30B Chip Bet Back to U.S.. This case sits in a different lane: not product competition, but whether OpenAI’s hardware effort crossed legal lines before its first major device arrived.

A partnership turns into a fight over who controls AI hardware

The tension is simple: Apple once brought OpenAI closer to its users. Apple now says OpenAI used that broader moment to build against it with stolen information.

The timing raises the stakes. Apple’s moat has long depended on tightly controlled product plans, industrial design work, supply chain knowledge, manufacturing methods, and device-level integration. Those are exactly the categories Apple says OpenAI accessed through former employees and recruiting.

OpenAI will likely contest Apple’s version of events. Its public line so far is denial of interest in other companies’ trade secrets, plus a statement that it is reviewing the complaint. The next phase will test whether Apple can connect alleged access to actual use inside OpenAI’s hardware work.

XOOMAR has also followed OpenAI’s product-side expansion through coverage such as ChatGPT Voice Mode Stops Interrupting With GPT-Live-1 and No Heir Named as Fidji Simo Steps Back From OpenAI Apps. The Apple case adds a harder question: whether OpenAI’s push beyond software exposes it to the same legal fights that define the consumer hardware business.

Court relief could pinch OpenAI before its first device lands

If Apple wins early relief, OpenAI could face limits on how it handles contested materials, what its hardware team can use, and whether certain evidence must be preserved or returned. The supplied reports do not say Apple has already obtained an injunction. They say Apple is asking the court to block OpenAI from obtaining or using alleged confidential information.

That’s the immediate pressure point. A money damages fight can run for years, but an injunction can disrupt product work now.

Apple also said it attempted to discuss its concerns with OpenAI in February, but was ignored. If that claim holds up, it could become part of Apple’s argument that it tried to resolve the matter before suing.

The reputational risk for OpenAI is narrower but serious. Apple is not merely accusing a rival of aggressive recruiting. It is accusing OpenAI leadership and employees of normalizing misconduct inside a new hardware business.

“This is the tip of the iceberg,” the filing states, according to TechCrunch.

The evidence fight will decide whether that line is courtroom heat or a sign Apple has more documents to surface.

The next battle is evidence, injunctions, and OpenAI’s device roadmap

The first things to watch are procedural but consequential: OpenAI’s formal response, any request by Apple for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, and early disputes over discovery.

Investors, rivals, and Apple suppliers will look for whether Apple names specific prototypes, design files, technical documents, manufacturing methods, or internal roadmaps it says were taken or used. The supplied reports already mention claims involving confidential hardware-related files, unannounced technologies, features, products, technical specifications, engineering presentations, and proprietary project data.

The case also turns the AI race toward a more physical battlefield. Models and apps still matter. But if OpenAI wants to control the device layer, Apple has made clear it will defend the confidential knowledge behind its hardware with litigation, not just product launches.

Impact Analysis

• The lawsuit could strain Apple and OpenAI's recent AI partnership around ChatGPT integration.
• Apple is challenging OpenAI's move into consumer hardware by alleging misuse of confidential product information.
• The case highlights rising legal risks as AI companies hire experienced talent from major hardware makers.