Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and two former employees of the iPhone manufacturer, accusing the artificial intelligence (AI) company of improperly appropriating trade secrets to accelerate its entry into the consumer device market.
This litigation was filed on Friday, the 10th, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The action signals a sharp deterioration in relations between the two corporations, which had established a collaboration in 2024 aimed at integrating ChatGPT into the Apple ecosystem.
The defendants include OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC, and io Products. Furthermore, the suit names Tang Tan, former Vice President of Product Design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, who currently serves as Director of Hardware at OpenAI, and Chang Liu, former Senior Electrical Systems Engineer at Apple and a member of the AI company's technical team.
Apple alleges that OpenAI orchestrated a joint effort to obtain confidential data regarding product projects, manufacturing methods, and supply chain strategies of the company. The document presented to the court asserts that at all levels, from the technical team to the hardware director, OpenAI was stealing trade secrets and confidential information from Apple in coordination with business partners.
Additionally, the company stated that recent evidence has emerged showing that OpenAI employees took possession of ultra-secret information related to technologies, processes, and products not yet launched. An Apple spokesperson told CNBC that there is significant evidence that individuals employed by OpenAI improperly took Apple's secret and confidential information about its future technologies, processes, and products.
A considerable portion of the accusations falls on Tang Tan, who dedicated 24 years to Apple, reaching the position of Vice President of Product Design and working directly with the former head of industrial design, Jony Ive. After leaving Apple, Tan joined the startup io Products, founded by Ive and later acquired by OpenAI. Although this connection exists, Jony Ive is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
According to Apple, before leaving the company, Tan transferred data about suppliers and internal industry summaries to himself. The manufacturer also alleged that the executive advised candidates still working at Apple and participating in selection processes at OpenAI to bring physical components of the company to interviews. As per the lawsuit, he allegedly guided these professionals to bring 'real parts' of Apple to 'show and tell' sessions, during which he and his team could extract more confidential information.
Currently, Tan leads OpenAI's efforts to develop its own devices, a tactic seen as crucial for the company to sell products directly to consumers without relying on platforms like the iPhone.
Chang Liu is another focus of the lawsuit. Apple claims that Liu did not return a corporate laptop upon leaving the company and subsequently exploited an authentication system vulnerability to re-access the company's internal network. The manufacturer reported that he downloaded 'dozens of confidential files related to Apple hardware.' The lawsuit also implicates Liu in using a former colleague's computer to access the company's internal systems.
According to the suit, when trying to recruit this employee for OpenAI, Liu advised him on how to 'avoid issues with the security team' while copying confidential files. Apple also alleges that OpenAI provided guidance to departing employees on how to bypass internal security procedures.
Beyond the alleged leak of documents and strategic information, Apple believes that OpenAI is pressuring hardware manufacturers to use a metallic finishing technique originally developed by Apple itself. The company alleges that OpenAI is making these partners believe they have authorization from the iPhone manufacturer to apply the process.
The lawsuit represents a drastic change in the dynamic between the two companies. In 2024, Apple and OpenAI announced a major partnership to integrate ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence and Siri. At that time, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, participated in the announcement at Apple's headquarters. This agreement allowed users to get answers from ChatGPT through Siri and also subscribe to the service directly in iOS settings.
However, the relationship began to cool after OpenAI announced its entry into the hardware market with the acquisition of io Products, a startup founded by Jony Ive, in a transaction valued between US$ 6.4 billion and US$ 6.5 billion. More recently, Apple revealed a revised version of Siri, whose launch is scheduled for the second half of the year. According to reports, this new assistant will use Google's Gemini AI models instead of ChatGPT technology.
OpenAI also faces other lawsuits related to the alleged appropriation of intellectual property. One of these is brought by the startup iyO, which creates a voice-controlled, screenless audio device. This company alleges that a former engineer stole files and delivered them to Tang Tan while he was still affiliated with io Products. OpenAI denies any idea theft, stating that its device differs from the startup's product.
The company has also been sued by The New York Times, which accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of using its content without permission to train AI models. This week, the newspaper and other media outlets requested federal court sanctions against OpenAI, alleging that the company concealed evidence during the proceedings. Additionally, last month, a federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit filed by xAI, Elon Musk's company, which accused OpenAI of recruiting a former engineer to obtain information about the Grok chatbot.
In this action, Apple seeks compensation for damages, injunctive relief, and a court order forcing OpenAI to cease using the alleged illegally obtained trade secrets. The company has not specified whether the lawsuit will impact its partnership with OpenAI for the integration of ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. There was also information that earlier this year, the AI company considered sending a formal notification to Apple for alleged breach of the 2024 agreement to promote ChatGPT via Siri, although this initiative did not progress to a lawsuit.
