Apple has declared judicial war on OpenAI in the midst of the race to build the next generation of artificial intelligence devices.
The iPhone maker has filed a lawsuit against the creator of ChatGPT, several entities within its group, io Products, and two former Apple employees. It accuses them of misappropriating confidential information to favor OpenAI's plans in the hardware market.
The complaint was filed with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Apple maintains that there was a coordinated effort to obtain secrets related to product designs, manufacturing processes, suppliers, and supply chain strategies.
The two former employees named are Chang Liu, who worked as a senior electrical systems engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, a former vice president of product design linked for years to the development of the iPhone and Apple Watch.
Tan now holds a central position in OpenAI's hardware division. Liu also joined Sam Altman's company after leaving Apple.
All accusations are part of a lawsuit that will need to be examined by the court. For now, there is no resolution proving that OpenAI or the former employees committed the alleged acts.
What Apple Accuses OpenAI of Having Done
Apple maintains that OpenAI benefited from a systematic extraction of confidential information from former and current company employees.
The lawsuit does not present the case as the isolated action of an employee taking some documents when changing jobs. The iPhone maker claims that the data was allegedly used to accelerate OpenAI's entry into the physical device business.
It is a strategic market for Sam Altman. OpenAI wants to expand its activities beyond ChatGPT and develop a new family of products specifically designed to interact with artificial intelligence.
Apple believes that part of that project is being built with internal knowledge obtained illegitimately.
The Apple Computer That Allegedly Wasn't Returned
One of the most serious accusations concerns Chang Liu.
According to the lawsuit, the former engineer did not return an Apple-owned laptop after leaving the company. Subsequently, he allegedly took advantage of a problem in the authentication system to access his former employer's internal network.
Apple claims that Liu downloaded dozens of confidential files related to hardware.
The company further asserts that the engineer allegedly used credentials belonging to others or access that should have been deactivated after his departure.
The judicial procedure will determine which files were obtained, what level of confidentiality they had, and if they actually ended up in the hands of OpenAI.
Emails Attributed to Tang Yew Tan
The lawsuit also points to Tang Yew Tan, one of the most veteran product designers who left Apple to join the hardware project driven by OpenAI and Jony Ive.
Apple assures that, before leaving, Tan sent himself information about suppliers, internal industry analyses, and other documents related to product development and manufacturing.
The company maintains that the executive has methodically used this knowledge to favor OpenAI's projects.
Tan worked for more than two decades at Apple and participated in areas related to the design of the iPhone and the Apple Watch. He now serves as head of hardware within the OpenAI ecosystem.
The transition from one position to another is not illegal. The legal battle focuses on whether protected information was taken and whether OpenAI received, requested, or used it.
Apple Parts in Job Interviews
The complaint includes another particularly striking accusation.
Apple claims that Tan allegedly asked candidates who still worked for the company to bring physical parts or components to selection interviews related to OpenAI.
The accusation elevates the case beyond digital documents. If confirmed, it would imply attempts to access physical components or prototypes belonging to the manufacturer as well.
Apple considers that this behavior was part of a broader pattern to recruit workers and knowledge from its hardware teams.
According to the lawsuit, hundreds of former Apple employees currently work at OpenAI. This circumstance does not prove any irregularity, but it shows the intensity of the competition for talent between the two companies.
OpenAI and Jony Ive's New Device
The root of the conflict is the future artificial intelligence device that OpenAI is developing with Jony Ive.
Ive was for decades the great architect of Apple's industrial design. He participated in the creation of products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and ended up becoming one of Steve Jobs' closest collaborators.
After leaving Apple, he founded the creative studio LoveFrom and later launched io Products, a company specializing in developing a new generation of hardware for AI.
OpenAI integrated the io Products team in a deal valued at around $6.5 billion. Jony Ive and LoveFrom remained as independent structures but took on creative and design responsibilities for the company's future products.
Apple has not included Ive among the defendants.
What ChatGPT's new hardware could look like
OpenAI has not yet publicly presented the final product.
Sam Altman and Jony Ive have spoken about creating a new family of devices designed from the ground up for artificial intelligence, rather than simply installing ChatGPT on a conventional phone or computer.
The goal would be to offer a more natural and permanent relationship with AI assistants, possibly through voice, image, sound, personal context, and sensors.
That approach makes the project a potential competitor to the iPhone, AirPods, Apple Watch, and other products that make up Apple's ecosystem.
The lawsuit shows that the Cupertino company is taking that threat seriously even before the device hits the market.
From allies to enemies in court
The legal offensive is particularly significant because Apple and OpenAI are still technological partners.
Apple announced in 2024 the integration of ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. Users can access OpenAI's model from Siri and other functions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
The integration allows ChatGPT to be used with or without an OpenAI account and is present in writing tools, document interpretation, images, and queries that Siri cannot resolve on its own.
The lawsuit does not automatically imply a break in that collaboration. Neither company has announced the withdrawal of ChatGPT from Apple devices for now.
However, the confrontation opens an obvious question mark about the future of the alliance.
Apple now accuses in court the company whose AI model it offers within its own phones, tablets, and computers.
What Apple is asking the court for
Apple seeks to prevent OpenAI from continuing to use or disseminate information it considers confidential.
The company requests judicial measures to recover or destroy the allegedly stolen materials, halt their use in product development, and protect its trade secrets.
It also claims compensation for economic damages it can demonstrate during the proceedings.
One of the key issues will be to prove that the reported information constituted a trade secret: it must have had economic value because it was not public, and Apple must have taken reasonable measures to protect it.
The company will also have to prove that OpenAI received or used this information knowing its irregular origin.
What OpenAI has responded
OpenAI had not offered a detailed public response at the time the lawsuit became known.
The company will have the opportunity to respond in court and can deny the facts, question the confidential nature of the documents, or argue that the knowledge used by its employees comes from their general professional experience.
In trade secret litigation, there is an important distinction between taking protected documents and using skills acquired during a professional career.
An engineer or designer can work for a competitor and apply their experience. What they cannot do is appropriate protected files, prototypes, blueprints, or strategies from their former employer.
OpenAI was also considering acting against Apple
The conflict between the two companies had been growing for months.
OpenAI had studied different legal options against Apple due to tensions arising around their contractual relationship. Among the possibilities was notifying a possible breach of the agreement that bound the two companies.
The situation has ended up developing in the opposite direction: it has been Apple who has opened a judicial offensive over trade secrets.
The confrontation reflects the evolution of their relationship. OpenAI went from being the partner that helped Apple strengthen Siri to becoming a potential direct threat to its device business.
The race to replace the mobile phone
The lawsuit comes at a time when big tech companies are looking for the product that can succeed the smartphone.
Apple dominates the personal device market with the iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, and its computers. OpenAI dominates a good part of the conversation about generative artificial intelligence thanks to ChatGPT.
The combination of OpenAI with Jony Ive creates a particularly uncomfortable rival for Apple: the AI company provides the models, and the former Cupertino designer provides experience in building consumer products.
OpenAI will need suppliers, materials, factories, sensors, chips, and production processes to compete in hardware. All of these areas are precisely some of Apple's biggest industrial secrets.
Why the case could shake up Silicon Valley
Worker mobility is a central feature of Silicon Valley.
Engineers and executives regularly move from Google to Apple, from Apple to Meta, or from Tesla to OpenAI. This circulation facilitates innovation, but also leads to frequent disputes over patents, secrets, and confidentiality clauses.
The Apple-OpenAI case has a special dimension due to the level of the companies involved and the technological moment.
It's not just about a computer function or a component being discussed. At stake is who will have the advantage in building the device that could define the next stage of consumer artificial intelligence.
What could happen with ChatGPT on the iPhone
For now, users should not expect any immediate changes.
ChatGPT continues to be integrated into Apple Intelligence, and neither party has announced a suspension of service.
But the relationship is now under unprecedented pressure. Apple is developing its own AI systems and may also turn to models from other companies to reduce its dependence on OpenAI.
If the conflict escalates, the company could review the agreements that allow access to ChatGPT from Siri. OpenAI, for its part, will have incentives to accelerate its own device that does not depend on Apple's ecosystem.
OpenAI has not yet responded in detail, and all accusations will have to be proven in court.
The case transforms a technological alliance into a legal battle and opens a war for the next big consumer product after the mobile phone.