OpenAI Calls Apple’s Trade-Secret Case a Talent War

OpenAI Calls Apple’s Trade-Secret Case a Talent War
Apple’s fight with OpenAI is rapidly becoming more than a dispute over confidential files. It is a bruising contest over AI hardware, employee defections and who gets to define the boundary between recruitment and theft.

The conflict began in July, when Apple sued OpenAI and two former employees, alleging that confidential documents were taken to advance OpenAI’s hardware ambitions. Apple’s complaint also accused OpenAI of seeking protected information through job-candidate interviews.

On Monday, Apple escalated by seeking a preliminary injunction that would bar OpenAI and the named former employees from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing the alleged trade secrets while the case proceeds. The request signals Apple’s concern that any disputed information could be used before a full trial resolves the claims.

OpenAI answered Tuesday with a blog post, then filed its formal dismissal motion Wednesday. The company says Apple has recast ordinary product-development material as trade secrets and treated former employees’ conduct as theft without showing it adequately protected the information. OpenAI also argues that Apple’s own work practices blurred corporate and personal data, including by encouraging the use of personal iCloud accounts for work.

Its central counterattack is blunt: “Apple should not be permitted to use a baseless and pretextual lawsuit to make up for its shortcomings in the market for talent and retaining its employees, and its failures to integrate AI into its products.” OpenAI says it is building something fundamentally different and that engineers are leaving Apple voluntarily for its work.

Apple sees theft and urgent risk; OpenAI sees a poorly investigated effort to restrain worker mobility as the companies race into AI hardware. The judge is scheduled to hear dismissal arguments on Oct. 1.

Elon Musk offered a terse outside verdict on X: “Can’t trust OpenAI.”

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