Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, accusing the artificial intelligence company of orchestrating a campaign to steal the iPhone maker’s trade secrets as it tries to develop its own consumer hardware device.
The lawsuit — filed in a federal court in San Jose, California — paints a picture of an aggressive effort by OpenAI to poach Apple employees and extract confidential information to build its hardware.
The lawsuit marks a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two companies that teamed up in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into Apple products.
Since then, this relationship has deteriorated. Bloomberg reported in May that OpenAI was itself considering legal action against Apple, claiming the tech giant had failed to properly promote the ChatGPT integration.
“At every level, from technical staff members to its chief hardware officer and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has stolen Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” Apple said in the 41-page complaint.
The lawsuit will significantly complicate OpenAI’s plans for a highly anticipated initial public offering.
The company, valued at roughly $852 billion, has raised more than $180 billion from investors, and expansion into consumer devices was seen as a major growth opportunity.
“Substantial evidence has emerged suggesting that individuals employed by OpenAI improperly obtained Apple’s secret and confidential information about our undisclosed technologies, processes and products,” the company said in a statement to AFP.
“We will always protect the hard work and innovation of our teams and are taking all the appropriate steps to do so.”
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suit names OpenAI, its hardware subsidiary io Products — the company co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive — and two former Apple employees: Tang Yew Tan, now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, and engineer Chang Liu.
Apple said it was seeking damages and an injunction barring OpenAI from using its confidential information, calling the lawsuit necessary after OpenAI failed to respond to concerns the company raised in February.
– “Show and tell” –
Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, before co-founding io Products, which OpenAI acquired for an estimated $6.5 billion in 2025.
Apple alleged that Tan used confidential project code names during OpenAI job interviews to probe candidates about unreleased Apple products. According to the complaint, about 400 employees at OpenAI are former Apple employees.
Tan also allegedly told Apple employees to bring physical components, such as batteries, circuit boards and other parts, to interviews for “show and tell” sessions.
Apple described its findings as the “tip of the iceberg,” saying it had limited visibility into what was going on behind OpenAI’s closed doors.
“OpenAI’s fledgling hardware business now rests on shakiest foundations, rotten to the core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” the complaint said.
