Apple sued OpenAI in federal court on Friday, accusing the ChatGPT maker of orchestrating a broad campaign to obtain Apple’s confidential hardware technology by hiring its former employees.
It relates to an effort by OpenAI to develop its own devices with AI built in — products that might someday replace the iPhone and other smartphones.
OpenAI hasn’t been subtle about its plans to compete with Apple hardware, especially after it began working closely with Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief.
Apple accuses OpenAI of stealing trade secrets to build AI devices
OpenAI has spent the past two years steadily building a hardware business to complement ChatGPT and other AI software. Most notably, OpenAI acquired AI device startup io Products in a multibillion-dollar deal in 2025 — which is how Jony Ive and a team of veteran Apple engineers got to work developing a new generation of AI-powered consumer products for OpenAI.
That led directly to the lawsuit Apple filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit names OpenAI, OpenAI executive Tang Tan, former Apple engineer Chang Liu and io Products.
Apple alleges the defendants misappropriated trade secrets related to unreleased products, manufacturing techniques, supply chains and hardware engineering to accelerate OpenAI’s own hardware ambitions.
Apple says OpenAI actively strove to obtain insider info
The 41-page complaint further alleges that OpenAI systematically recruited Apple employees and encouraged them to disclose confidential information during the hiring process.
Apple also claims Liu improperly retained sensitive company files after leaving the company, while Tan — Apple’s former vice president of product design and now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer — encouraged prospective hires to bring proprietary Apple components and technical information to interviews.
OpenAI hardware efforts allegedly based on Apple secrets
Apple says the alleged misconduct goes beyond the actions of individual employees. According to the complaint, OpenAI institutionalized the collection of confidential Apple information as it raced to develop AI-powered consumer hardware.
The filing argues that Apple’s confidential information could give OpenAI a shortcut in designing and manufacturing AI devices, avoiding years of research and development. Apple says it is acting to protect decades of investment in hardware engineering and industrial design.
Apple and OpenAI go from partners to adversaries
The newly filed federal lawsuit marks a dramatic deterioration in the relationship between the two companies. Apple and OpenAI actually partnered back in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into Siri and Apple Intelligence, but their relationship cooled as Apple expanded work with Google’s Gemini AI while OpenAI aggressively pursued its own hardware strategy.
The acquisition of io Products transformed OpenAI from an AI software company into a direct competitor in consumer devices, setting the stage for the legal clash.
Apple is seeking damages as well as court orders preventing further use or disclosure of its intellectual property.
OpenAI had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time the lawsuit was filed.
