SAN FRANCISCO, California — Apple has filed a lawsuit in federal court in California accusing OpenAI of misappropriating trade secrets tied to Apple’s hardware business, marking a major rupture in the companies’ 2024 partnership to integrate ChatGPT into Apple’s ecosystem. In a filing on Friday, Apple alleges that OpenAI encouraged former Apple employees to share confidential information during recruitment and instructed them on how to avoid internal scrutiny when moving into roles at OpenAI. The complaint claims that OpenAI’s push into consumer AI hardware rests on knowledge taken from Apple, with the filing describing OpenAI’s hardware business as “rotten to its core” due to its alleged reliance on misappropriated trade secrets. SAN FRANCISCO, California — The lawsuit names as defendants Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer who previously helped design the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod while at Apple; Chang Liu, a former Apple electrical engineer who worked on sensitive product development; and io Products, a hardware startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and later acquired by OpenAI. Apple says an internal investigation “uncovered a pattern of theft,” alleging Liu accessed and downloaded confidential hardware files on an Apple-issued device he kept after leaving, and that Tan directed job candidates still employed at Apple to bring “actual parts” from Apple to interviews. Apple, which says OpenAI never responded when it raised concerns in February, is seeking damages and a court order blocking OpenAI from using its trade secrets. OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company has no interest in other firms’ trade secrets and is reviewing the filing, as the dispute looms over OpenAI’s recruitment of more than 400 former Apple employees and its planned initial public offering.

Prepared by Christopher Adams and reviewed by editorial team.