Apple sues Open AI and two employees for stealing product secrets: It once asked to bring "parts" to interviews
On July 10, local time, Apple sued OpenAI in the Northern California Federal Court, accusing OpenAI of systematically obtaining trade secrets of Apple’s unreleased products to promote the research and development of its own AI hardware and bypass hardware manufacturers such as Apple. "OpenAI personnel at every level, from technical staff to chief hardware officer, worked with business partners to steal Apple's trade secrets and confidential information," Apple said in a legal filing. Also named as defendants by Apple this time are IO Products, a hardware subsidiary acquired by OpenAI, Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, another OpenAI employee. Apple stated in the complaint that more than 400 former Apple employees have joined OpenAI. Apple said in a statement: "Recently, there has been substantial evidence that employees of OpenAI have illegally stolen Apple's secrets and confidential information about our unreleased technologies, processes, and products." Apple requested the court to immediately stop using the stolen trade secrets and destroy relevant materials, while seeking compensation for damages. OpenAI responded in a statement: "We are not interested in other companies' trade secrets. We will continue to focus on developing innovative technologies that empower people around the world." Tan has worked at Apple for 24 years and served as vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch. In 2024, he left Apple and co-founded the AI hardware company IO Products with former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive and Apple design veteran Evans Hankey. In May 2025, OpenAI acquired the company for US$6.5 billion, and Tang Tan subsequently served as OpenAI's chief hardware officer. Apple alleged in the complaint that before Tang Tan left, he had contact with OpenAI or its partners and sent Apple supplier information and internal consumer electronics industry reports to his personal email. Since then, he used Apple's internal project codenames when interviewing Apple employees, asked "what's the next plan" for an unreleased product, and asked job seekers to bring Apple's "actual parts" to OpenAI for "show and explanation." Among the items required to bring were batteries, logic boards and shields, one applicant said in surprise, "I didn't know these items could be taken from the office," the complaint said. According to Apple, this is not just a few copies of documents when individual employees leave, but a set of "methodological" recruitment processes. OpenAI is accused of requiring job seekers to display CAD design materials and prototypes, and discuss subsystem and component selection, simulation tools, system integration methods, and supplier selection and communication methods. Tang Tan and others were also accused of distributing an internal Apple resignation security document marked "Need to Know" to new employees, reminding them not to reveal to Apple that the next company is OpenAI, in order to avoid being revoked of system access rights in advance. The materials purportedly include details of unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications and proprietary project data. Apple believes that this content may be used for AI hardware being developed by OpenAI. The lawsuit alleges a shocking reversal for both companies. In 2024, Apple and OpenAI will still maintain a cooperative relationship, and Apple also plans to integrate ChatGPT into its own artificial intelligence service "Apple Intelligence". However, with Apple choosing Google’s “Gemini” as the AI model for its voice assistant Siri, and OpenAI acquiring IO and pushing to enter the hardware market, the relationship between the two has turned into competitors in the hardware market. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI also considered sending a breach notice to Apple earlier this year, accusing the iPhone maker of failing to fulfill the terms of a 2024 agreement to promote ChatGPT in Siri, according to people familiar with the matter.
OpenAI is currently facing other lawsuits. A device startup iyO has accused a former engineer of stealing company documents and giving them to Tang Tan. The New York Times accused Microsoft and OpenAI of using its content to create and train its AI products without permission in late 2023. The Paper reporter Zhou Ling
OpenAI is currently facing other lawsuits. A device startup iyO has accused a former engineer of stealing company documents and giving them to Tang Tan. The New York Times accused Microsoft and OpenAI of using its content to create and train its AI products without permission in late 2023. The Paper reporter Zhou Ling