Apple sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft
The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI recruited Apple employees to access confidential information and requested trade secrets during interviews, with evidence including a text message from a former engineer.
Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the artificial intelligence company stole trade secrets to facilitate the development of its own consumer hardware. The legal filing claims that OpenAI poached Apple staff to gain access to confidential information and explicitly requested trade secrets during job interviews with Apple workers.
In addition to naming OpenAI as a defendant, Apple has sued two former employees, Chang Liu and Tang Tan, in connection with the alleged scheme. The complaint cites a text message sent by former Apple engineer Chang Liu to a colleague as evidence, which Apple alleges was part of a plan to steal hardware intellectual property for OpenAI.
The alleged misconduct reportedly took place around April 2025. The suit highlights tensions regarding intellectual property protection within the technology sector as major firms compete in artificial intelligence and hardware innovation.
OpenAI has been developing consumer hardware, which is the specific subject of the alleged trade secret theft. The lawsuit underscores the broader challenges companies face in safeguarding proprietary information as they expand into new physical product markets.
The specific nature of the consumer hardware OpenAI is developing has not been detailed in the provided source material. The exact content of the text message from Chang Liu and its direct evidentiary weight in court are also not fully elaborated upon.
Claims regarding trade secret theft and poaching are allegations made in a legal filing and have not yet been proven in court. The outcome of the lawsuit and the validity of the allegations remain unproven as the case is ongoing.
