What Apple Is Alleging
According to the federal lawsuit, OpenAI instructed candidates to prepare Technical Deep Dive
presentations focused on their work at Apple. Interviewees were allegedly asked to bring tangible items to these sessions, including:
- CAD and design artifacts
- Working prototypes
- Actual hardware parts like batteries and logic boards
- Systems-in-package components
One Apple employee reportedly expressed surprise at what was being requested, saying he didn’t even know we could take those from the office.
The company says this recruitment strategy was systematic and part of a broader effort to extract its trade secrets.
Key Figures and Allegations
Apple’s complaint specifically names current OpenAI leaders and employees. Tang Yew Tan, who serves as OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and previously worked as a vice president of product design at Apple, allegedly used confidential Apple project codenames during interviews.
The lawsuit also targets Chang Liu, a former Apple engineer now at OpenAI. Apple claims Liu improperly accessed the company’s internal systems after leaving, downloaded confidential engineering files while working for OpenAI, and coached another Apple employee on how to circumvent security measures.
The broader context is significant: OpenAI currently employs more than 400 former Apple workers, many of whom worked on hardware development projects.
The Competitive Pressure
Apple frames these recruitment practices as part of OpenAI’s strategy to enter the consumer hardware market. As OpenAI develops its own AI hardware products, competition between the companies is intensifying across multiple fronts.
Notably, this litigation is happening while Apple and OpenAI maintain an active business partnership. Apple integrates ChatGPT into its Apple Intelligence suite of features, meaning the two companies remain financially intertwined even as they battle in court.
What Apple Wants
The company is pursuing several remedies through the lawsuit:
- Monetary damages for trade secret theft
- Court orders preventing further use of Apple’s confidential information
- Return of all confidential materials and hardware
- Preservation of evidence for the case
- Enforcement of breach of confidentiality agreements
An OpenAI spokesperson did not immediately respond to FOX Business’s request for comment on the allegations. The case highlights rising tensions in the tech industry over talent recruitment and intellectual property protection as companies race to build the next generation of AI hardware.
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