OpenAI Says Apple Has It Wrong as Trade-Secret Fight Escalates

OpenAI Says Apple Has It Wrong as Trade-Secret Fight Escalates
Apple’s trade-secret case against OpenAI is rapidly becoming a battle over competing narratives: Apple says its confidential work may have been taken; OpenAI says Apple is blaming it for failures inside its own systems.

The dispute began last month when Apple accused OpenAI of benefiting from confidential information allegedly taken by former iPhone engineer Chang Liu and longtime Apple design leader Tang Tan, now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. Apple portrayed the conduct as part of a broader effort to advance OpenAI’s consumer-hardware ambitions, including allegations that proprietary hardware and details of unreleased products were sought during recruiting.

This week, Apple raised the stakes. It asked a judge for a preliminary injunction barring Liu, Tan, OpenAI and Jony Ive’s io from accessing or disclosing Apple information while the case proceeds, and sought expedited discovery. Apple said its continuing inquiry had identified 11 additional former employees who might be witnesses or otherwise connected to the alleged misconduct. Its filing cited claims that former employees discussed unannounced Apple products ahead of OpenAI interviews and that confidential documents were screenshotted before one such interview.

OpenAI answered not with a court filing but a public release of emails and messages, calling Apple’s lawsuit “careless, aggressive, and oddly personal.” The company denied possessing or wanting Apple trade secrets, arguing that Liu’s alleged post-departure access reflected Apple employees contacting him for help and Apple’s failure to cut off former workers’ system access.

The two sides agree that former Apple talent moved to OpenAI and that Apple data remained accessible after at least one departure. They sharply disagree on what that means: Apple sees evidence of an organized theft; OpenAI sees a flawed offboarding process being repackaged as misconduct.

Elon Musk, a frequent OpenAI critic, amplified Apple’s injunction request with a blunt verdict: “Can’t trust OpenAI.”

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