Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday for alleged theft of trade secrets and breach of contract.
The iPhone maker claims the fraud reveals a pattern of theft from OpenAI employees who previously worked at Apple and was directed by senior OpenAI executives, including chief hardware officer Tang Tan.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Tan of using code names for confidential Apple projects during the OpenAI hiring process, asking job applicants to bring Apple hardware components to interviews, coaching departing Apple employees on how to circumvent the company’s security procedures, and asking for details about the company’s unreleased products.
Prior to joining OpenAI, Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently serving as vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch.
The accusation comes at a time when OpenAI is rumored to be developing its first hardware product that will likely compete with the iPhone. In April, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the device could be a smartphone that relies on AI agents rather than apps. If true, this would represent one of the biggest threats to Apple’s core hardware business to date.
Former Apple lead designer Jony Ive’s device startup io was acquired by OpenAI in a $6.5 billion deal last year to help the AI company with its hardware ambitions. io’s name was listed in the submitted documents, but Ive’s name was not.
Tan is not the only OpenAI employee mentioned in the new complaint. Apple also alleges that Chang Liu, who worked at Apple for eight years as a senior systems electrical engineer, failed to return an Apple-issued laptop after he left to join OpenAI in 2026 and used the computer to download confidential Apple technical documents.
Apple said in its complaint that the stolen documents contained information about unreleased technologies, features and products, including technical specifications, engineering presentations and proprietary project data.
Liu is also accused in the lawsuit of sharing confidential Apple information with other Apple employees applying for jobs at OpenAI and advising at least one of them what to study before an interview.
Apple sent a letter to OpenAI in February expressing its concerns but did not receive a response, the company said in its complaint.
The former employees’ actions were part of OpenAI’s strategy to extract Apple’s confidential information, which they allege included requiring Apple employees to bring designs and prototypes to interviews and answer questions about things like components and the vendor selection process.
Apple says its ongoing investigation reveals that OpenAI and its partners were even using Apple’s confidential information as the AI model maker developed its own hardware products. For example, the filing mentions a proprietary metal finishing technology that OpenAI allegedly used to mislead partners into believing it had Apple’s permission.
Like many technology companies, Apple typically investigates possible theft of trade secrets or other inappropriate behavior by analyzing communications made on company-owned devices and reading server logs. Taking this case to court will give Apple the opportunity to learn more about the extent of the alleged manipulation through the legal discovery process.
Apple is asking the court to prohibit OpenAI from using or disclosing trade secrets, require Apple to return confidential Apple materials, and preserve evidence related to the lawsuit.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. Apple has no visibility into what’s going on behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such misconduct is normalized and modeled by its leadership,” the filing said. “As a natural result, OpenAI’s nascent hardware business is now built on the most shaky of foundations, rotten to the core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
Apple also said in a prepared statement:
“At Apple, our teams are constantly developing breakthrough technology to create the world’s best products and services, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously. Recently, significant evidence came to light suggesting that individuals employed by OpenAI have improperly exfiltrated Apple’s confidential information about our unreleased technologies, processes, and products. We have always championed our team’s efforts and innovation, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.”
OpenAI was contacted for comment.
The submission is available here or can be read below.
This story is in development and will be updated. Originally published at 1:32 PM PT.
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