Apple Sues OpenAI Over Trade Secret Infringement, Alleges Hardware Secrets Stolen

Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and two former employees alleging they stole trade secrets to advance OpenAI's consumer AI hardware business. The lawsuit, filed on October 10 in the U.S. federal northern district of California, claims former Apple executive Tang Yu Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, and former senior systems engineer Chu Liang took confidential information to OpenAI. Apple alleges Chu Liang accessed internal repositories via a compromised laptop and downloaded dozens of unreleased product files, while Tan is accused of stealing supply chain and industry summary documents. Apple demands immediate cessation of trade secret use, destruction of stolen data, and compensation for damages. Despite previous collaboration on Apple Intelligence, the companies have since diverged as Apple adopted Google's Gemini for Siri and OpenAI expanded into hardware through acquisitions.