Apple Accuses OpenAI Of Stealing Hardware Secrets
Apple has filed suit alleging former employees fed OpenAI confidential designs as the AI firm races to launch its first hardware device
Apple is suing OpenAI in federal court, alleging the artificial intelligence firm is involved in a "campaign of actions" to steal the company's "confidential designs" for its hardware as it readies a consumer gadget that could compete with the iPhone.
In the lawsuit, filed Friday, the iPhone maker alleges that OpenAI pressured Apple personnel to provide information, components, drawings and other materials about upcoming products as part of its plan to develop its own devices.
The Named Individuals
The grievance is headed by two former Apple employees. Tang Tan, who served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch for 24 years at Apple, allegedly recruited and coached former employees to skirt Apple's termination-security protocols by using confidential iPhone and Apple Watch project codenames.
More detailed in Apple's filing, Chang Liu, who was an eight-year veteran senior systems electrical engineer at Apple, is alleged to have downloaded private technical documents on the laptop, which was assigned to him by Apple, before he departed for OpenAI.
The suit also claims that the recruitment methods were "falsely audacious". Tan reportedly gave job hopefuls still working for Apple instructions to take "real parts" from Apple to their job interviews for "show and tell," including at least one guy who stated he "didn't even know we could take those from the office".
Corporate Fallout
The language of the filing is quite direct for corporate litigation circumstances. The filing claims that this is the tip of the iceberg, Apple has no idea what is going on behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such conduct is common and setting the tone for the hardware business that OpenAI is built on is “misappropriation of trade secrets”.
OpenAI has made it clear that it will not be bowing to the pressure. The company stated that it is not interested in others' trade secrets, but is focused on developing innovative technology that is capable of empowering people all over the world.
Context and Stakes
The lawsuit also includes the hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, but the suit also doesn't name Ive as a defendant, nor does it allege that Ive is guilty of anything.
OpenAI acquired io last year for $6.4 billion as part of its hardware aspirations, which has coincided with a wider cooling of the relationship between the two companies, which at one time saw them delight in the integration of Siri and ChatGPT.
This mass of talent migration reflects the level of the competition: Apple's filing claims that over 400 people who used to work for the company are now at OpenAI. The lawsuit, pending in the Northern District of California, asks for injunctive relief and damages — and arrives as OpenAI gears up for what is expected to be a pivotal IPO, just as the company's hardware offering becomes a hot topic of debate.