California: OpenAI has rejected Apple’s allegations of trade-secret theft, accusing the iPhone maker of creating its own legal dispute by failing to show that confidential information was stolen by former employees who joined the AI company.
In a court filing in California, OpenAI said Apple had not demonstrated that any trade secrets were misappropriated. OpenAI also argued that the lawsuit was intended to slow a potential competitor as the ChatGPT maker expands into consumer hardware.
Apple sued OpenAI and former employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu in July, alleging that confidential information related to hardware design, manufacturing and supply-chain operations had been misappropriated. Apple claimed the former employees accessed internal company files after leaving the company.
OpenAI disputed those allegations and said California law allows employees to move between competing companies. The company has reportedly hired around 400 former Apple employees for its hardware initiative, reflecting its growing ambitions beyond AI software and into consumer devices.
OpenAI also challenged Apple’s handling of employee departures. The AI company said Apple encourages employees to use personal iCloud accounts to access work documents, making it difficult for departing employees to separate personal and company information.
Liu said any access to Apple documents after leaving the company was intended to help former colleagues locate files or answer questions related to previous work. Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple, said prototypes were returned before departure and that only non-confidential materials were retained.
The lawsuit marks a significant escalation between the two companies, which formed a partnership only two years ago to expand ChatGPT’s integration with Apple’s products and strengthen Apple’s position in artificial intelligence. The relationship has since become more complicated as competition in AI and consumer technology has intensified.
OpenAI maintains that Apple’s lawsuit cannot prevent employees from joining a rival company or use Apple’s own document-handling procedures as evidence of wrongdoing. The dispute highlights the growing competition between the two technology giants as OpenAI moves deeper into hardware and Apple works to strengthen its AI capabilities.
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