OpenAI has formally requested a U.S. judge to dismiss Apple's lawsuit, which alleges that the artificial intelligence company and two former Apple employees misappropriated trade secrets to advance OpenAI's consumer hardware ambitions. OpenAI's legal team argued in a motion filed on Wednesday that the company has "no use, need or desire for Apple's trade secrets" and is focused on developing entirely new technology.
Apple originally sued OpenAI on July 10, claiming a systematic effort to acquire and exploit confidential information through former employees, recruitment practices, and supplier relationships. The iPhone maker also sought a preliminary injunction against OpenAI and former employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan, alleging irreparable harm absent such an order.
In its motion to dismiss, OpenAI argues that Apple's own security practices, including allowing employees to use personal iCloud accounts for work and failing to properly revoke access after departures, weaken its claim. The company submitted text message records showing an Apple manager remained logged into the personal iCloud account of defendant Chang Liu after he left the company to transfer files, and later asked him for help with technical questions about Apple projects. OpenAI also accuses Apple of omitting the consequences of its own "inexplicable information-management practices" from its original complaint, noting that the company failed to properly secure its systems when employees departed.
OpenAI further contends that Apple has not specified which "trade secrets" or confidential components were allegedly stolen, referring to them instead as "generic categories of the product-development process." The AI company posits that Apple is using this lawsuit to slow down its competitor from innovating in AI-powered hardware, rather than focusing on its own product plans. OpenAI stated it has "no use, need or desire for Apple's trade secrets" and is building something entirely new and different from anything at Apple.
