Apple has filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of systematically recruiting its employees to extract confidential information about unreleased technologies and hardware designs. The complaint centers on allegations that OpenAI executives deliberately solicited Apple staff and used them to access sensitive company data while the workers transitioned to the AI lab.
The case zeroes in on Chang Liu, a former senior electrical engineer who kept his Apple laptop after departing the company and discovered a vulnerability that granted him access to Apple's cloud file storage while employed by OpenAI. Messages cited in the filing show Liu flagging the security gap to a still-employed colleague, describing it as something to laugh about. According to the lawsuit, Liu then downloaded dozens of confidential files from Apple's systems, many explicitly marked as proprietary.
The complaint also names Tang Tan, an Apple veteran who worked on iPhones and Apple Watch products and now serves as OpenAI's chief hardware officer. The suit alleges Tan used Apple's internal codenames to pressure current Apple employees considering OpenAI roles into bringing physical components like batteries and circuit boards to meetings. More aggressively, prosecutors say Tan circulated an Apple offboarding document to OpenAI hires that detailed ways to circumvent Apple's exit security protocols.
Apple contends OpenAI also misrepresented its authority when displaying proprietary metal-finishing techniques to the company's manufacturing partners, misleading them into believing Apple had consented to the disclosure. The lawsuit claims OpenAI approached multiple trusted Apple suppliers with confidential information as it prepared to launch its own hardware device.
Jony Ive, Apple's iconic former design chief who began working with OpenAI in 2023, does not appear as a named defendant, though the filing references his involvement with io Products, a hardware startup he co-founded alongside Tan. OpenAI acquired io in May 2025, with Ive now overseeing the company's device efforts.
The scale of the alleged exodus is striking. Apple claims more than 400 of its former employees now work at OpenAI, providing the lab with deep institutional knowledge of Apple's operations and future direction. This brain drain coincides with OpenAI's push into hardware, a sector where Apple holds unmatched expertise.
The dispute carries particular weight given the public partnership between the companies. Apple agreed to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT into its own products, even as tensions mount behind closed doors. OpenAI is preparing to debut its first hardware device in the first half of 2026, according to statements from the company's chief global affairs officer. Bloomberg reported in January that OpenAI had been weighing legal action against Apple over their partnership terms, and The New York Times later disclosed that OpenAI considered sending Apple a breach of contract notice.
Apple is asking the court to bar OpenAI from possessing, using, or sharing its trade secrets, to recover Apple materials, and to award damages for the alleged theft and contract violations. The case underscores the friction between the two companies despite their formal collaboration and highlights how fiercely Silicon Valley's tech giants now compete over talent and proprietary information in the AI era.
Author James Rodriguez: "This lawsuit exposes the ugly underside of the AI talent wars, where insider knowledge flows out the door in the form of headhunted engineers and compromised security protocols."
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