Apple has sued OpenAI, alleging that employees who moved from Apple to OpenAI took confidential information about unreleased hardware, internal processes, and product work, according to excerpts from the complaint posted by Alex Heath on Threads.
The lawsuit lands in an awkward place for both companies. Apple and OpenAI have an announced partnership, and Heath said Apple executives he met at WWDC were notably cold when he asked about it. Heath also said senior leaders from both companies are in Sun Valley this week.
Apple’s public statement, posted by Heath, says the company has seen evidence that people employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s confidential information involving unreleased technologies, processes, and products. Apple said it is taking steps to defend its teams’ work and inventions.
What Apple says happened
The complaint, as quoted by Heath, alleges a broader pattern involving former Apple employees who later worked for OpenAI. Apple claims one ex-Apple employee named in the suit, Mr. Liu, accessed and downloaded dozens of confidential hardware files over several weeks while working on OpenAI hardware.
Those files allegedly included information about unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data. In plain English: Apple says this was not a stray calendar invite or a forgotten slide deck. It says detailed product-building material walked out the door.
Apple also alleges that other former Apple employees sent themselves confidential Apple information to personal email accounts before leaving for OpenAI, according to the complaint excerpts.
The complaint names Tang Tan, described by Heath as a veteran Apple product leader who is now OpenAI’s head of hardware. Apple alleges Tan has used Apple confidential information to help OpenAI. According to one excerpt, Tan used an internal Apple project codename while asking about plans for an unannounced Apple product.
The recruiting allegations are the messiest part
Apple’s complaint also describes OpenAI recruiting practices that, if accurately quoted, read less like normal hiring and more like a tutorial on how to trigger a trade-secrets lawyer.
According to the complaint excerpts, OpenAI instructed Apple employees to bring design artifacts, CAD materials, and prototypes to interviews. Apple also alleges candidates were asked to discuss subsystem and component choices, integration tools and methods, vendor selection, and vendor communications.
Apple further alleges that Tan retained or obtained an internal Apple managers’ document marked “Need to Know” that described security procedures for employee departures. The complaint says messages on Apple-issued devices show Tan and OpenAI colleagues shared that document with new hires before they gave notice to Apple, allegedly giving them a preview of Apple’s offboarding checks.
If Apple proves that, the mechanism is straightforward: know the inspection process before resignation, then use that knowledge to avoid setting off alarms. That is Apple’s allegation, not a court finding.
Apple says OpenAI ignored an early warning
Apple says it contacted OpenAI in February, while its investigation was still early, to raise concerns that Apple confidential information might be entering OpenAI’s business improperly. According to the complaint excerpt posted by Heath, Apple asked OpenAI what precautions it was taking, whether it would investigate, and how it would fix any problems. Apple alleges OpenAI did not respond.
The complaint goes further, claiming OpenAI’s hardware effort relies unlawfully on misappropriated Apple trade secrets. Heath noted that Jony Ive is not named in the suit.
For now, the allegations remain allegations. The part that matters for users and developers is the same part Apple is trying to protect in court: the boundary between hiring talent from a rival and importing that rival’s confidential product machinery. Silicon Valley likes to pretend that line is obvious. Lawsuits like this exist because companies keep testing it.
This story draws on original reporting from Daring Fireball.
