Apple has filed a lawsuit in the United States alleging OpenAI orchestrated a campaign to obtain confidential information to accelerate its entry into the consumer hardware market.
The lawsuit against OpenAI, which also names two former Apple employees, marks a significant escalation in tensions between the two technology companies that had previously worked closely together.
The lawsuit filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California alleges OpenAI systematically acquired Apple's trade secrets through former employees, recruiting practices and supplier relationships.
Apple claims the information was used to support OpenAI's efforts to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-powered consumer devices that could eventually compete with products such as Apple’s iPhone.
“This case is about Apple’s former employees stealing Apple’s trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI. Apple brings this suit to put a stop to it,” Apple said in the filing.
Apple said significant evidence had emerged suggesting OpenAI employees wrongfully took Apple's secret and confidential information about unreleased technologies, processes and products.
"We will always defend our teams' hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so," the iPhone maker was quoted in this Financial Times story as saying in a statement.
But OpenAI denied the allegations, with the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot quoted in this Reuters story as saying in a statement: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere."
Among those named in the lawsuit are OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer Tang Yew Tan, who was formerly Apple's Vice President of Product Design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, and Chang Liu, a former Apple senior system electrical engineer.
Apple alleges Liu retained a company-issued laptop after leaving the company and later exploited an authentication vulnerability to access Apple's internal network, downloading confidential hardware-related files.
This marks a major split between the two companies, which had previously collaborated on projects. Since then, OpenAI has aggressively poached Apple employees, Apple has expanded its AI offerings, and OpenAI has moved into hardware.
