Apple has gone to war with OpenAI. On Friday the iPhone maker filed a lawsuit accusing the AI company of trade-secret theft and breach of contract, saying it had uncovered "a pattern of theft of Apple's trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple."
The people at the centre of it
Two former Apple employees sit at the heart of the complaint. The first is Tang Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, who spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as vice-president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple accuses him of using its confidential project code names while recruiting, asking job candidates to bring Apple hardware components to interviews, and coaching departing staff on how to slip past its security. The second is engineer Chang Liu, who joined OpenAI from Apple in January. Apple says he downloaded "dozens of Apple's confidential hardware-related files," including detailed information on unreleased products, engineering presentations and technical specifications.
Why Apple is worried
The timing explains the temperature. OpenAI is rumoured to be building its first hardware product, one that would likely compete with the iPhone, and last year it bought io, the device startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, in a $6.5 billion deal. Apple's filing doesn't mince words: it calls the case "the tip of the iceberg" and says OpenAI's "nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations." In a prepared statement, Apple said "significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple's secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products," and vowed to "defend our teams' hard work and innovations." Apple says it wrote to OpenAI in February to raise concerns and got no response. It now wants the court to bar OpenAI from using its secrets, force their return, and preserve the evidence.
OpenAI, for its part, says it has "no interest in other companies' trade secrets" and remains focused on "building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." The legal discovery process will decide who's right, and how much of OpenAI's hardware future gets dragged into the daylight.
