Apple has filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of a 'pattern of theft' regarding confidential product development information, the BBC reports. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, also names the startup io Products and two former Apple employees who have moved to OpenAI.
According to the complaint, at least two long-serving Apple employees were sending the company's internal documents to each other before leaving for OpenAI. Apple claims that OpenAI was learning details of its plans through these employees and their access to sensitive projects, partner relationships, and unreleased products.
Named in the suit are io Products, a design studio founded by long-time Apple designer Jony Ive, which was acquired by OpenAI last year, along with Chang Liu, an engineer with eight years of tenure at Apple, and Tang Yew Tan, a former vice-president of design for the iPhone and Apple Watch who spent 24 years at the company and is now the head of hardware at OpenAI.
Apple states in the lawsuit that it is attempting to extract additional information from its current employees, and that candidates were suggested to bring 'actual parts' from Apple to the interview. The company is asking the court to immediately prohibit OpenAI from using the confidential information, alongside an unspecified amount of damages. It adds that it raised its concerns with OpenAI in February, but received no response.
Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI, told the BBC that the company 'is not interested in the trade secrets of other companies' and that it was reviewing the lawsuit. Apple's spokesperson responded that the lawsuit is based on 'significant evidence'.
The dispute marks a turning point in the relationship between the two companies. The outgoing chief executive of Apple, Tim Cook, had previously integrated ChatGPT into Apple devices, but this year Apple shifted much of its AI functionality to Google's Gemini model. OpenAI, according to BBC reporting, is due to unveil its first hardware product this month — a keyboard designed to work with its AI tools — while also preparing for a public listing.
