Apple filed a federal lawsuit on Friday against OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of orchestrating a systematic campaign to steal confidential trade secrets through the recruitment of former Apple employees. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in San José, California, names OpenAI, its hardware subsidiary io Products, and two former Apple senior employees as defendants. Apple is seeking both unspecified monetary damages and an injunction barring OpenAI from using any of its confidential information.
At the centre of the allegations are Tang Yew Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch and is now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, a senior electrical engineer who worked at Apple for eight years before joining OpenAI earlier this year. Apple claims Liu accessed and downloaded confidential hardware files on an Apple-issued device he retained after leaving, while Tan allegedly used confidential project code names during job interviews to probe Apple candidates about unreleased products and instructed them to bring physical components — including batteries and circuit boards — to interviews for "show and tell" sessions. According to the complaint, roughly 400 current OpenAI employees are former Apple workers. "At every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, OpenAI has been stealing Apple's trade secrets," the 41-page filing states. Apple also named io Products — the design startup co-founded by Tan and former Apple design chief Jony Ive, which OpenAI acquired for roughly $6.5 billion — as a defendant.
The lawsuit marks a sharp deterioration in what was once a collaborative relationship. In 2024, Apple partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its devices as a supplementary AI-powered assistant alongside the company's own Siri technology. Apple says it raised its concerns directly with OpenAI as early as February, but received no response. OpenAI, for its part, has denied any wrongdoing. "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere," a company spokesperson said.
The dispute is unfolding as OpenAI presses ahead with its push into consumer hardware — a product the company has described as a new way of interacting with AI that goes beyond "traditional products and interfaces." OpenAI's chief financial officer told reporters in April that a consumer hardware device is expected before the end of the year. Apple characterised its findings so far as merely "the tip of the iceberg," warning that its visibility into OpenAI's internal operations remains limited.
The lawsuit carries significant consequences beyond the courtroom. OpenAI, currently valued at around $852 billion, has been exploring a public listing on Wall Street, and expanding into consumer hardware was considered a key growth opportunity for the company. The legal action adds fresh uncertainty to those ambitions and signals a decisive shift from partnership to rivalry between two of the most influential companies shaping the future of artificial intelligence.