Apple Sues OpenAI for Trade Secrets Theft

Apple sued OpenAI, io Products, and two former employees for stealing Apple’s trade secrets. The two individuals are currently employed by OpenAI along with over 400 other former Apple employees.

“Apple has uncovered a pattern of theft of Apple’s trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple,” the lawsuit reads. “OpenAI and its cohorts have been engaging in a coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level … This includes io (which OpenAI acquired). The corporate defendants, with or through their employees or partners, have been acting in concert and as an enterprise, exploiting Apple’s confidential information to advance OpenAI’s efforts to enter the consumer hardware market. They have used confidential Apple information in approaching Apple’s trusted partners, even having one carry out a specific trade secret metal-finishing technique for OpenAI, misleading the partner to believe they had Apple’s permission to do so.”

Apple partnered with OpenAI two years ago when it announced Apple Intelligence with optional integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. One year later, OpenAI announced the $6.5 billion acquisition of io Products, an AI device maker startup cofounded by legendary former Apple chief design officer Jony Ives. And in recent months, there have been rumors of a falling out between Apple and OpenAI, with the latter allegedly considering suing Apple for failing to deliver on a promised revenue stream.

That is not what happened.

Instead, Apple’s lawsuit alleges trade secret theft at multiple levels and involving dozens of people, some former employees. Among the allegations:

• Chang Liu spent 8 years as a senior system electrical engineer at Apple, joined OpenAI in early 2026, and took with him an Apple-issued laptop that he used to continue accessing proprietary and secret Apple information–including “unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data”–on Apple’s shared network folders. He continued doing this while helping OpenAI develop new hardware. Liu also coached a former Apple colleague on ways to evade Apple’s security team when copying confidential files while recruiting this person to join OpenAI.
• Tang Yew Tan was at Apple for 24 years, most recently as a vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, but he is now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. An investigation revealed that Tan “has been methodically using Apple’s confidential information to benefit OpenAI.” This started before he left Apple, with Tan emailing himself Apple secrets, and it continued at OpenAI, with Tan requiring Apple employees who were interviewing at OpenAI to bring “actual parts” from Apple for “show and tell” sessions. These included CAD/design artifacts and prototypes, the suit says.
• OpenAI instructs new hires on how to avoid scrutiny when they leave Apple so they can stay at Apple as long as possible and funnel information to OpenAI. OpenAI, io, and the two named defendants engage in a “coordinated pattern of misconduct” to steal Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information. “OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations,” the suit notes, colorfully, “rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”

Apple first reached out to OpenAI this past February to raise concerns that OpenAI was improperly using Apple’s confidential information. But OpenAI never responded, triggering a broader investigation that led to these charges.

“Apple does not bring this action lightly,” the filing explains. “Apple operates in the most competitive markets in the world and focuses on creating and shipping the very best products and services that embody its innovations. But it cannot tolerate the theft of its trade secrets. In light of the troubling evidence it as seen so far, Apple is left with no choice. This lawsuit and the discovery process are needed to expose and begin to remedy the pervasive theft of Apple’s trade secrets.”

“We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” OpenAI director of strategic communications Drew Pusateri wrote in response to the suit. “We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”