TL;DRApple sued OpenAI in California federal court for trade secret theft. It alleges hardware designs were stolen as OpenAI prepares to launch consumer devices.
Apple has sued OpenAI in a California federal court, accusing the ChatGPT maker of using current and former employees to steal hardware designs as it prepares to launch AI-focused consumer devices. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, names OpenAI’s chief hardware officer Tang Tan and former Apple engineer Chang Liu, and alleges a pattern of misconduct “normalised and exemplified by leadership,” according to the Financial Times.
Apple claims Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple including as VP of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, shared confidential supplier information with OpenAI before leaving. The lawsuit alleges that Tan instructed Apple employees to bring “digital designs and prototypes” to interviews at OpenAI for “show and tell sessions.” Over 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to the filing.
Chang Liu, a former electrical engineer who worked on Apple’s “most sensitive product development programs,” allegedly failed to return a work device, used another Apple employee’s computer to access trade secrets, coached the employee on copying files while evading security, and exploited a vulnerability in Apple’s network storage after leaving the company. Apple says Liu texted the employee: “LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny.”
