Apple Sues OpenAI and Former Employees Over Trade‑Secret Theft

Sun Sep 06 2026 03:22:23 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Apple has filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI, its ex‑staff, and a design startup, alleging theft of confidential product development information.

Apple has sued OpenAI and several former employees over alleged theft of trade secrets via the new AI company’s hiring practices. The suit claims a pattern of secret extraction, including misuse of proprietary data and design techniques, while Apple says it tried to discuss the issue earlier without success. The case arrives just as OpenAI plans to launch its first hardware product, intensifying the AI‑hardware rivalry. Apple seeks a court order blocking OpenAI from using the alleged confidential information and seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Apple Sues OpenAI and Former Employees Over Trade‑Secret Theft

Apple has filed a federal lawsuit this week accusing the artificial‑intelligence company OpenAI, two of its former key employees, and the design start‑up io Products of a systematic pattern of theft of the tech giant’s confidential product‑development information.

In the suit Apple claims that former Apple engineers who moved to OpenAI emailed themselves internal Apple data and that, through their privileged access, OpenAI has gained insight into unreleased products, manufacturing techniques and partner relationships. The company also alleges that OpenAI interviewers used Apple hardware as props in hiring interviews to elicit more sensitive information from prospective hires.

During the filing Apple stressed it had tried to address the issue with OpenAI in February but that the company’s concerns were ignored. Apple’s harassment allegations are a departure from its previous friendly ties with the AI firm – which built ChatGPT – and come just before OpenAI is set to unveil its first hardware offering, a keyboard designed to work with its AI tools, and its expansion plans to go public.

A key part of the lawsuit targets io Products, a design company founded by former Apple executive Jony Ive that OpenAI acquired last year, as well as two former Apple senior staff: Chang Liu, a six‑year‑old electrical engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, a 24‑year‑tenured design chief now heading OpenAI’s hardware unit.

Apple says the alleged misconduct is “normalised and exemplified by leadership” and that OpenAI’s nascent hardware business is built on a “rotten to its core” foundation of illegally obtained trade secrets. The lawsuit asks the court to bar OpenAI from accessing or using any of the disputed information and to seek unspecified monetary damages.