- OpenAI Response: OpenAI challenges Apple’s trade-secret complaint, while the federal case remains pending.
- Apple Allegations: Apple alleges that confidential hardware files and physical parts moved through recruitment; the claims remain unproven.
- User Impact: Apple’s complaint excludes the ChatGPT integration agreement, so supported Apple features face no immediate change from this case.
- Requested Relief: Apple seeks damages, property returns, evidence preservation and restrictions on use or disclosure of its confidential information.
OpenAI is challenging Apple’s trade-secret complaint, saying in a statement shared by Bloomberg reporter Ed Ludlow on X that it saw no evidence the lawsuit had merit. Apple filed four days earlier, alleging that files and physical parts moved with recruits. The case remains pending.
Recruitment competition preceded the lawsuit. By late 2025, OpenAI’s recruitment from Apple’s design team had intensified. Apple alleges specific transfers of hardware files and physical parts, along with supplier knowledge, while OpenAI counters that fair competition includes workers’ freedom to change employers.
A trade secret is confidential business or technical information protected from unauthorized use. Changing jobs does not establish that protected material moved with an employee, so Apple’s case depends on evidence about specific files, components and recruiting conduct.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple Inc. v. Liu names OpenAI, the Jony Ive-linked hardware venture io Products, OpenAI chief hardware officer Tang Tan and former Apple engineer Chang Liu as defendants. A judge has not tested the allegations.
What Apple Alleges Crossed Company Lines
Apple alleges that Liu retained an Apple-issued device and used an authentication flaw to extract dozens of confidential hardware files after leaving. Tan is accused in the complaint of emailing himself supplier data and internal industry summaries. He is also accused of directing job candidates to bring physical parts to interviews for show-and-tell sessions.
Apple’s claim that more than 400 former employees now work at OpenAI does not establish improper acquisition or use on its own. Apple must connect specific recruits to protected files or parts, then connect that material to OpenAI’s hardware work.
Recruitment scale and evidence quality are different legal questions. A workforce count can explain Apple’s concern, but the requested restrictions depend on evidence of improper transfers, use or disclosure.
Liu’s alleged downloads and Tan’s alleged interview instructions form that proposed connection. OpenAI’s defense based on employee-mobility freedom rejects a broader inference based on recruitment alone. Tan’s earlier product-design leadership at Apple explains his relevance, but the case still requires evidence about what material moved and how it was used.
“While we take these allegations seriously, we’re not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit,”
OpenAI (via Ed Ludlow)
OpenAI has not addressed each of the claims about alleged downloads and Apple must now substantiate those accusations in federal court. Improper acquisition or use of protected information can violate the federal law Apple invokes even when a worker was free to accept a new job.
Apple seeks damages, a jury trial, return of its property and preservation of evidence. Requested restrictions would bar the defendants from possessing, using or disclosing Apple’s confidential information. A judge would need supporting evidence before imposing restrictions on disputed material.
Why the Hardware Push Raises the Stakes
Apple and OpenAI moved toward potential product competition as OpenAI recruited from Apple’s design team. In 2025, OpenAI acquired io for about $6.5 billion and combined the Jony Ive-linked operation with its product effort. A trademark dispute later forced OpenAI to abandon the io brand.
In 2024, Apple and OpenAI had partnered to add ChatGPT access when Siri could not satisfy some requests. Their move from software partners toward potential hardware rivals raises the commercial stakes without changing the legal burden of proof.
Court-ordered evidence exchanges could expose hiring records, design documents and internal communications before a judge reaches the merits. OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar said in an interview published in April that OpenAI planned to unveil its hardware toward the end of 2026.
Apple users face no immediate change from the case. Apple’s filing excludes the agreement supporting ChatGPT integration in Apple Intelligence, its artificial-intelligence feature suite, leaving supported features outside the requested relief.
Apple alleges that it contacted OpenAI about its concerns in February and received no response. OpenAI’s formal answer will be the next filing to address the allegations about Liu, Tan, confidential files and physical parts.
