Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the maker of Chat GPT, accusing the artificial intelligence company of trade secret theft and aggressive talent poaching to build a competing consumer hardware line. The lawsuit was filed in July 2026.
From the AI summary on Google:
Core Allegations
- Theft of Hardware Secrets: Apple claims OpenAI orchestrated a campaign to steal confidential information regarding manufacturing, supply-chain operations, and hardware design.
- Compromised Interviews: The lawsuit names OpenAI’s chief hardware officer (and former Apple veteran) Tang Tan, alleging he instructed job candidates still employed at Apple to bring actual hardware parts to interviews for “show and tell” sessions.
- Unauthorized System Access: Apple alleges that former iPhone engineer Chang Liu kept an Apple-issued laptop, exploited an unknown authentication bug to breach internal cloud storage, downloaded sensitive hardware files, and instructed a colleague to destroy evidence.
- Talent Poaching: Apple noted in filings that more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.
A few weeks ago, Apple accused OpenAI of destroying crucial court evidence. From Yahoo! Finance:
According to the latest filing, OpenAI “only recently” provided a key piece of evidence: An Apple-issued MacBook that Liu had been using since departing the company. An initial forensic analysis has found that “Mr. Liu and others at OpenAI were well aware” of his continued unauthorized access to Apple’s third-party cloud storage providers, the filing said.
The laptop also contains evidence that Liu “sent instructions for destroying evidence to an OpenAI colleague who confirmed she would comply,” Apple’s lawyers said. A key part of Apple’s original complaint accused OpenAI of encouraging Apple employees to share information, components, drawings and other materials related to unreleased products while taking steps to cover its tracks.
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