Apple files lawsuit accusing ChatGPT maker OpenAI of stealing trade secrets

The complaint alleges a coordinated effort by two former Apple employees and OpenAI to steal confidential information.

Apple has sued OpenAI and two former employees, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets as the artificial intelligence company seeks to build its own hardware for ChatGPT, a major rupture in a partnership between the iPhone maker and the AI giant.

The complaint, filed in a California federal court on Friday, alleges a coordinated effort to steal Apple’s confidential information, including product designs, manufacturing processes and supply chain strategies.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit names Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, a former vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, as defendants, along with the OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC and io Products. Neither defendant immediately responded to a request for comment.

Apple alleged that Liu failed to return a company-issued work laptop and later used an authentication bug to access Apple’s internal network, downloading “dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related files”.

The iPhone maker also claimed that OpenAI’s hardware chief Tan had been “methodically using Apple’s confidential information to benefit OpenAI” by emailing himself information about Apple suppliers and internal industry summaries before his departure.

Apple alleged that Tan encouraged Apple employees to bring parts from Apple to job interviews at OpenAI for “show and tell” sessions, citing an incident in its filing where one OpenAI job candidate allegedly said that he “didn’t even know we could take those from the office”.

More than ۴۰۰ former Apple employees now work for OpenAI, Apple said in the filing, adding that “it is not surprising” that some of them have knowledge of its confidential information.

“That OpenAI now employs people who were once entrusted with Apple’s trade secrets does not entitle OpenAI to use that information to jumpstart its hardware efforts,” the iPhone maker wrote in its complaint.

OpenAI has never said exactly what type of device it is building, but has described it as an effort to find a new way to interact with AI that goes beyond “traditional products and interfaces”. It is part of a broader push to create a physical embodiment of the latest AI advances, a decade after Amazon and Google introduced screen-free talking speakers into homes.

The lawsuit claims the effort was built partly on knowledge stolen from Apple.

Apple also alleged that OpenAI employees sought confidential information from the company’s suppliers.

At one point, Apple said, one of its suppliers used a secret metal finishing technique for OpenAI, on the belief that the AI company had Apple’s permission to use the technique.

OpenAI bought hardware startup io Products, founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, last year in a $۶.۵bn deal, in a push to move beyond software into consumer hardware. Ive is not named in the lawsuit.

Strained relationship

Tensions between the two tech companies have strained their relationship, as the race to develop AI products has intensified competition for talent and proprietary technology.

In its complaint, Apple claimed it wrote to OpenAI in February with concerns that its confidential information was making its way to OpenAI, asking to discuss the matter, but received no reply.

A person familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency in May that OpenAI was exploring legal options against Apple, including notifying the technology giant of a breach of contract but potentially not filing a full lawsuit.

In ۲۰۲۴, Apple announced the integration of its Apple Intelligence technology across its apps, including Siri, and brought OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT to its devices.

Their partnership allows users to access ChatGPT results through Siri, while iPhone users can also sign up for ChatGPT memberships directly from the iOS settings menu.

Apple rolled out a long-delayed overhaul of Siri last month. The update comes two years after Apple first promised major upgrades.