The complaint alleges a coordinated effort by two former Apple employees and OpenAI to steal confidential information.By AP and ReutersPublished On 10 Jul 202610 Jul 2026Apple has sued OpenAI and two former employees, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets as the artificial intelligence company seeks to build its own hardware for ChatGPT, a major rupture in a partnership between the iPhone maker and the AI giant.The complaint, filed in a California federal court on Friday, alleges a coordinated effort to steal Apple’s confidential information, including product designs, manufacturing processes and supply chain strategies.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listOpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The lawsuit names Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, a former vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, as defendants, along with the OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC and io Products. Neither defendant immediately responded to a request for comment.Apple alleged that Liu failed to return a company-issued work laptop and later used an authentication bug to access Apple’s internal network, downloading “dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related files”.The iPhone maker also claimed that OpenAI’s hardware chief Tan had been “methodically using Apple’s confidential information to benefit OpenAI” by emailing himself information about Apple suppliers and internal industry summaries before his departure.Apple alleged that Tan encouraged Apple employees to bring parts from Apple to job interviews at OpenAI for “show and tell” sessions, citing an incident in its filing where one OpenAI job candidate allegedly said that he “didn’t even know we could take those from the office”. Advertisement More than 400 former Apple employees now work for OpenAI, Apple said in the filing, adding that “it is not surprising” that some of the …
