Apple has filed a lawsuit in California federal court against OpenAI and two of its former employees. The complaint alleges a coordinated effort to steal trade secrets, including product designs and manufacturing processes.
The lawsuit names former senior engineer Chang Liu and former product design VP Tang Yew Tan, along with OpenAI entities. Apple claims Liu used a bug to access its internal network after failing to return a company laptop, downloading confidential hardware files.
The company alleges Tan methodically emailed himself proprietary supplier information and industry summaries before his departure to benefit OpenAI.
This legal action dramatically escalates existing tensions between the two tech giants. Their relationship had been strained despite a partnership that integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT into Apple's Siri and iOS.
OpenAI's recent $6.5 billion acquisition of hardware startup io Products, founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, underscores its ambition to enter consumer hardware. Ive is not named in the lawsuit.