Key facts
- Apple is suing OpenAI, alleging the company conspired with former Apple employees to steal trade secrets.
- A former Apple engineer, Chang Liu, allegedly used a bug to access and download confidential hardware files from Apple's servers.
- Apple claims Liu downloaded detailed information about unreleased products, engineering presentations, and proprietary project data.
- The lawsuit also alleges that Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer and former Apple VP, is spearheading a recruiting scheme to obtain Apple's secrets.
- OpenAI has denied the allegations, stating it is focused on building innovative technology and has no interest in trade secrets.
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated he respects Apple but is not afraid of the lawsuit.
Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of conspiring with former Apple employees to steal trade secrets. The tech giant alleges that a "rare bug" allowed a poached engineer, Chang Liu, to maintain access to confidential information on Apple servers for weeks after his termination.
According to Apple's complaint, Liu, who spent eight years working on sensitive product development programs at Apple before joining OpenAI in January 2026, discovered an authentication bug on February 9. This bug allegedly enabled him to access Apple's shared network folders using a work laptop he should have returned. Instead of reporting the issue, Liu purportedly downloaded numerous confidential hardware-related files, including details on unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data. Apple claims some of these files were explicitly marked as confidential and would be invaluable to anyone developing hardware.
Apple further alleges that Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer and a former Apple vice president of product design, is orchestrating a scheme to recruit Apple employees and obtain insider information. The lawsuit suggests Tan has used his knowledge of secret project codenames to elicit discussions about unreleased products during job interviews and provided a former Apple employee with an internal document to help evade security measures when stealing trade secrets.
In response, OpenAI has denied the allegations. A spokesperson stated that the company has no interest in other companies' trade secrets and remains focused on building innovative technology. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also commented on the lawsuit, expressing respect for Apple but asserting he is not afraid of the legal action.
Apple is seeking injunctions to prevent OpenAI from using the allegedly stolen information and is investigating the extent of the data breach, noting that while the bug was quickly fixed, it is still examining whether other users were affected.