What Apple accuses OpenAI of in explosive trade secret lawsuit? A laptop ‘not returned’, secret interviews, & more
Apple has filed a trade secret lawsuit against Sam Altman’s OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT maker stole trade secrets. Apple claimed in a filing that employees who left for OpenAI were able to access its systems after they left. Apple also argued that OpenAI’s hardware business was “fundamentally rotten” and built on stolen secrets.
Apple’s trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI, filed Friday (July 10) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, lays out what Apple describes as a “coordinated pattern of misconduct at the corporate level” ranging from junior technical staff to OpenAI’s most senior hardware manager.
Apple’s lost laptop and OpenAI’s security bug
Apple’s investigation dates back to the January 2026 departure of Chang Liu, a former Apple engineer who moved to OpenAI. According to the complaint, Liu failed to return his company-issued laptop and then found he still had access to Apple’s internal systems; This is an error that Apple attributes to an authentication error.
Apple alleges that Chang Liu used ongoing access to download dozens of confidential engineering files while working at OpenAI, including materials related to unreleased products, specifications, presentations, and manufacturing processes.
How OpenAI staff evaded Apple’s security checks and lawsuit claims
Apple also alleges that Chang Liu advised an Apple engineer interviewing at OpenAI to review confidential Apple materials before their interview and coached him on how to copy files without alerting Apple’s security team.
According to the filing, the two are said to have shifted their conversations to a private messaging app to avoid detection.
When OpenAI job interview turns into a fishing expedition to catch Apple secrets
At the heart of Apple’s claim is the allegation that OpenAI’s onboarding process doubles as a tool for extracting private information. OpenAI has become one of the most sought-after employers in tech as it prepares initial paperwork for its stock market listing, and Apple says a wave of hardware engineers have joined the AI firm since then.
Apple’s complaint states that Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and a former Apple vice president who spent 24 years at the company, asked job candidates at Apple to bring physical components to interviews for “show and tell” sessions. OpenAI staff also allegedly pressured candidates for prototypes and vendor information.
Apple’s application describes a former employee taking screenshots and downloading files of what it calls a “highly secret Apple project” and claims Tan later brought up the same project during an interview with him.
“OpenAI’s hiring practices indicate that it hired these individuals at least in part because of the Apple-specific confidential knowledge and expertise they possessed and could improperly obtain,” the complaint said. The statement is included.
‘The tip of the iceberg’: Apple’s warning was ignored
Apple said it approached OpenAI earlier this year to express its concerns and asked the company to review whether its confidential information was entering OpenAI’s operations. Apple stated that OpenAI never responded and asked it to continue its own investigation before filing a lawsuit.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” the complaint reads. “Apple lacks visibility into what goes on behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such abuses are normalized and exemplified by leadership.”
It continues: “But this much is clear: OpenAI, at every level, from Technical Staff members to the Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with its partners, has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information. As a natural consequence, OpenAI’s nascent hardware business is now built on the shakiest of foundations and is rotten to the core due to its illicit reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
Apple said it had “no choice” but to pursue damages to be determined at trial, along with court orders barring OpenAI and the individual named defendants from possessing or using its trade secrets.
From ChatGPT ally to courtroom rival
Apple’s trade secret lawsuit marks a stunning turnaround for the two companies, which entered into one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched partnerships in 2024 with the incorporation of ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence.
Relations soured as OpenAI moved further into consumer hardware, hiring former Apple executives and engineers along the way; The startup company io Products, which includes Apple’s former chief design officer Jony Ive, was acquired by OpenAI.
This isn’t the only legal battle blocking OpenAI’s path to a widely anticipated exchange listing. Sam Altman’s company is still in litigation New York Times Following allegations that it trained its systems on copyrighted material without permission.
OpenAI also recently emerged from a separate courtroom fight with Elon Musk, who accused CEO Sam Altman and company president Greg Brockman of “stealing” the original OpenAI nonprofit and enriching themselves by turning it into a for-profit venture. In May, a jury sided with OpenAI and ruled that Musk had missed the three-year statute of limitations required to bring his claim.
