Apple claimed employees were urged to disclose sensitive information while being recruited by OpenAI
Tech behemoth Apple has taken AI giant OpenAI to federal court in California on claims that OpenAI stole trade secrets in the process of recruiting former Apple staff, reported the Associated Press.
The suit named as a defendant OpenAI’s chief hardware officer Tang Tan, who had contributed to the design of the iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPod. It also named former electrical engineer Chang Liu, who Apple said had been privy to sensitive product development initiatives prior to Liu’s departure for OpenAI.
According to the suit, Liu retained his Apple-issued device after leaving the company and used it to access and download sensitive hardware-related files. Moreover, Tan reportedly instructed job applicants from Apple to present actual Apple parts during their OpenAI interviews.
Apple said it voiced its concerns about potential confidentiality breaches to OpenAI in February, but the AI company was unresponsive. While investigating the issue, Apple claimed it discovered “a pattern of theft,” per a snippet of the suit published by AP News.
Apple and OpenAI teamed up in 2024, with ChatGPT replacing Apple’s Siri as an AI-powered “answer engine” for the iPhone. Ex-Apple designer Jony Ive would go on to join OpenAI, leading a project to construct an AI-powered device; the AI company announced last year that it was working with Ive on a hardware project involving AI communication.
Per the suit, these projects are partially founded on Apple’s information. OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri responded to Apple by saying that the AI company had “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” per a statement published by AP News.
OpenAI indicated that it was reviewing the suit.
Ive and Tan are among the co-founders of product and engineering company io Products, which was acquired by OpenAI in a ~US$6.5 billion deal. Tech startup iyO Inc. sued Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on grounds of trademark infringement; it, like Apple, also claimed that ex-staff shared a confidential illustration of an unreleased iyO and accused Tan of stealing trade secrets.
io Products was also named as a defendant in Apple’s suit. Lawyers who acted for the company before told the Associated Press to seek comment from OpenAI, as did Tan.
