Apple sued OpenAI on Friday for allegedly stealing its trade secrets, an extraordinary move that pits the $4.6 trillion iPhone maker against the fast-growing AI startup that is preparing to release a new class of hardware products shaped in large part by Apple’s former design chief.
In the lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California court, Apple accused two former employees who now work at OpenAI of systematically stealing confidential data, including information about unreleased hardware products, technical specifications and details about vendors and contractors in Apple’s supply chain. The lawsuit also named OpenAI as defendants, as well as io Products, a hardware design company that was acquired by OpenAI last year Co-founder of Apple’s former design chief Jony Ive.
“At every level, from technical staff to chief hardware officer and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has stolen Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” Apple said in the 41-page complaint. “OpenAI’s emerging hardware business now stands on shaky foundations and is corrupted to the core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
OpenAI told Assets in a statement: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on developing innovative technologies that empower people everywhere.”
The lawsuit marks a dramatic escalation between two companies that once worked together to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Apple’s software platforms and Apple’s digital assistant Siri. The partnership between Apple and OpenAI faded over time, and in January Apple announced that it would turn to Google for its Apple Intelligence efforts.
An Apple spokeswoman added in a statement that the company’s teams are “continually developing groundbreaking technologies to create the world’s best products and services, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously.”
Apple accuses Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and former Apple vice president, of systematically stealing secrets, including by using confidential Apple codenames during OpenAI’s recruiting process, encouraging interviewers to reveal iPhone maker secrets and instructing them to physically bring Apple hardware parts to job interviews. Tan left Apple in 2024 to join io Products after around 24 years with the company, where he rose from product designer to vice president of iPhone and Apple Watch product design.
Chang Liu, a member of OpenAI’s technical staff, is accused of downloading dozens of confidential hardware files, including technical specifications, technical presentations and proprietary data for unreleased products. Liu is also accused of teaching an Apple employee how to bypass security teams while copying files. OpenAI is accused of misusing knowledge of Apple’s supplier relationships and proprietary terminology to approach Apple’s supply chain partners.
Apple’s allegations are all the more startling considering the company is known for its strict secrecy about its products.
OpenAI has developed hardware devices equipped with its AI tools. This is part of a strategy to control its own physical products rather than relying on giants like Apple. OpenAI has recruited from Apple, including some of its top product leaders, and announced in May 2025 that it was buying Ive’s io products for $6.4 billion.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has made it no secret that he envisions one new class of AI gadgets replacing smartphones as the premier consumer tech device and Ive’s move to OpenAI caused a stir at the time. Ive is not named in the Apple lawsuit.
The lawsuit comes during a transition phase for both companies and Apple CEO Tim Cook hands over the reins to John Ternus in September and OpenAI’m preparing for an IPO as it faces increasing competition from other AI model makers such as Anthropic and Google.
Apple is seeking a combination of injunctive relief, compensatory damages and declaratory judgments to stop the alleged theft.
This is not the first time OpenAI has faced such allegations. In 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoftalleging that the companies used their articles and other content to train their AI models without permission. In June, a California judge dismissed a lawsuit from xAI, the company led by Elon Musk, that claimed OpenAI recruited a former xAI engineer to share information about the Grok chatbot.