Apple accused OpenAI and two of its former employees of unlawfully trading the company's secrets by hiring them to accelerate its consumer AI hardware ambitions.
Apple's accusation towards OpenAI
Apple sued the artificial intelligence (AI) company, two of its employees, and iO Products, alleging they engaged in "a pattern of theft" of Apple's confidential product development and related work.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims that the defendants engaged in a coordinated effort to access confidential information related to unreleased Apple products, hardware designs, manufacturing processes, engineering documents, and supply chain strategies. Apple argues that this confidential information was used to benefit OpenAI's expanding hardware business.
At least two longtime workers who left the company to join OpenAI allegedly took part in this pattern by emailing themselves internal Apple information.
Comments from both companies' lead person
Drew Pusateri, spokesperson for OpenAI, when addressing this issue, "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets."
He also added that the company, which is currently reviewing Apple's complaint, is "focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere."
Tim Cook, Apple's outgoing CEO, added ChatGPT to Apple devices as the company looked to offer more AI features. He provided the sample as this year Apple shifted more of its AI features to run on Google's Gemini model and tools. Apple is now accusing OpenAI of pursuing a strategy to extract Apple's confidential information.
Apple, along with OpenAI, is lo accusing IO Products, the design startup founded by Jony Ive, a longtime Apple executive. OpenAI acquired the company last year.
The issue also traces back to suing Chang Liu, a senior electrical engineer who worked at Apple for eight years, and Tang Yew Tan, a vice president of design for iPhone and Apple Watch who spent 24 years with the company. Tan is now OpenAI's chief hardware officer.
With these Former employees and their access to sensitive projects, trusted partner relationships, proprietary manufacturing techniques, and unreleased products, Apple claims that OpenAI has been able to glean details of its product plans and operations.
Apple added that when OpenAI interviews current Apple employees for potential jobs, the company allegedly tries to extract additional information about Apple from them.
OpenAI interviews have allegedly told prospective hires to bring actual Apple parts as props for show-and-tell during their interviews.
Apple accused all of the parties it was suing of "acting in concert and as an enterprise, exploiting Apple's confidential information to advance OpenAI's efforts to enter the consumer hardware market".
Apple claims that OpenAI plans to launch its first hardware product, a keyboard for use with its AI tools, this month, and to go public.
Apple said in its lawsuit that, because OpenAI's "misconduct is normalised and exemplified by leadership", its "nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets".
The company also said it planned to speak with OpenAI in February, but that plan was later ignored.
Apple asked the court for an immediate prohibition on OpenAI's obtaining or use of any alleged confidential information, and it is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
