Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and two former employees for theft of trade secrets, alleging the AI company took Apple technology to further their own hardware development.
Key Facts
- Apple has named OpenAI, IO Products and two employees—Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and former Apple vice president, and Chang Liu, former Apple employee who also later joined OpenAI—in a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Northern California.
- Apple alleges Liu stole an Apple laptop and took confidential information when he was leaving the company, while Tan allegedly directed Apple employees interviewing at OpenAI to bring “actual parts” for a “show and tell”.
- The relationship between Apple and OpenAI soured significantly since 2024, when they signed a deal to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT with Apple’s Siri, but Apple’s new Siri AI, announced in June, will be powered by Google’s Gemini instead.
Key Background
OpenAI has spent the last year expanding into consumer hardware, acquiring former Apple designer Jony Ive’s io Products for about $6.5 billion and hiring dozens of former Apple employees. The complaint alleges over 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. While Apple says that the 2024 agreement between the two companies is “not an issue” in this case, it is seeking damages, injunctions and orders that would require OpenAI and other defendants to stop using these alleged secrets and return confidential information.
This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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