Apple sues OpenAI, accuses it of stealing trade secrets for hardware push

Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of orchestrating a coordinated effort to obtain confidential information related to its unreleased products. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, escalates tensions between two companies that were, until recently, close partners in the AI race.

Apple is seeking a jury trial and has asked the court to order OpenAI to stop using the alleged trade secrets, destroy any proprietary materials in its possession, and redesign upcoming hardware products so they no longer incorporate Apple’s confidential technology.

What Apple is alleging

According to the court filing, Apple claims that OpenAI encouraged current and former Apple employees to share proprietary information, engineering documents, product designs and hardware components to accelerate development of its own AI-powered devices. The lawsuit names Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and a former Apple vice president of product design who led development of flagship products including the iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods before leaving the company in 2024.

Apple alleges that Tan encouraged Apple employees during recruitment to disclose information about unreleased products. Another former Apple engineer, Chang Liu, allegedly downloaded dozens of confidential hardware files before joining OpenAI earlier this year. Apple claimed Liu accessed engineering presentations, technical specifications and project data over several weeks while preparing to leave the company.

The iPhone maker further alleged that OpenAI coached departing employees on how to avoid immediate dismissal, allowing them to retain access to Apple’s internal systems for longer periods.

Apple’s statement and OpenAI’s response

“At every level, from members of its technical staff to its chief hardware officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” Apple said in its court filing. The company added that OpenAI’s hardware ambitions are “built on the illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.” According to Apple’s lawsuit, more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.

OpenAI rejected the accusations. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. “We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.” The lawsuit marks a dramatic deterioration in the relationship between the two technology giants.

Background on the Apple-OpenAI relationship

In 2024, Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI that integrated ChatGPT into Siri and the Apple Intelligence platform, allowing users to generate text, create images and analyze content directly on Apple devices. However, relations have steadily worsened over the past year, particularly after OpenAI hired former Apple design chief Jony Ive to help develop a new generation of AI hardware and recruited hundreds of Apple engineers.

In 2025, Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, sued Apple and OpenAI in a U.S. federal court in Texas, accusing the two companies of conspiring to suppress competition in the rapidly expanding AI market. That lawsuit sought billions of dollars in damages, alleging that Apple’s integration of ChatGPT into its operating systems amounted to an exclusive arrangement that shut out competing AI developers. According to that court filing, Apple and OpenAI had “locked up markets” to preserve their market dominance and prevent rivals, including xAI, from gaining meaningful access to users.

For Nigerian tech consumers and businesses watching the global AI race, this legal battle signals that even the biggest players are fighting over talent and intellectual property. It could slow the rollout of new AI-powered devices and services, potentially affecting pricing and availability of products that rely on partnerships between hardware and AI firms.