apple sues openai Apple has filed a sweeping lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company benefited from trade secrets taken by former Apple employees and used them to accelerate a push into hardware. In the complaint, Apple says it uncovered evidence of an “authentication bug” that briefly let one former engineer keep accessing Apple servers after leaving the company, and argues that the incident is part of a broader pattern of misappropriation tied to OpenAI’s hardware ambitions.
apple sues openai
Apple alleges a former engineer exploited an access bug
According to Apple’s filing on Friday, Chang Liu, who spent eight years “working on some of Apple’s most sensitive product development programs,” left Apple for OpenAI in January 2026. On February 9, Apple says Liu discovered an internal authentication bug that was not known to the company at the time. That flaw allegedly allowed him to access Apple’s shared network folders while using an Apple-issued work laptop that he should have returned.
Apple says Liu did not report the bug. Instead, the company alleges, he used the window of access to download confidential material over several weeks while working on hardware for OpenAI. The complaint says the files included “dozens” of documents covering unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications and other proprietary project data.
Among the materials Apple says were taken was a presentation on the company’s circuit-board design work, which Apple described as highly valuable to anyone building hardware. Some of the files were expressly labeled confidential, Apple said. In one message Apple cited, Liu allegedly wrote “LOL” to Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng and joked that he could still access network storage, calling it “so funny.”
Apple says the bug was fixed quickly
Apple acknowledged in a footnote that the bug was “quickly fixed” after it discovered Liu’s messages and that the issue did not appear to be broadly exploited. The company said server logs show that, aside from Liu, the few other users affected by the bug do not appear to have accessed or stolen confidential information.
Even so, Apple says the case is not limited to a single access lapse. The complaint argues that the exchanges between Liu and Peng, along with other evidence Apple says it has gathered, show a more extensive effort to move Apple information into OpenAI’s orbit.
OpenAI’s hardware chief is also named in the complaint
Apple’s lawsuit also points to Tang Yew Tan, Apple’s former vice president of product design for iPhone, who reportedly spent 24 years at Apple before joining Jony Ive’s io Products and then becoming OpenAI’s chief hardware officer in 2025. Apple alleges Tan played a central role in recruiting efforts aimed at former Apple staff.
According to Apple, Tan used knowledge of internal project code names to prompt Apple employees during job interviews to discuss unreleased products. The company also alleges he relied on an Apple internal document to create a checklist that would help departing employees avoid security measures designed to prevent trade-secret theft.
Perhaps the most striking allegation is that Tan asked Apple employees to bring computer parts for “show and tell” sessions. Apple says that would reveal proprietary technologies in ways that would go beyond what could be learned through ordinary reverse engineering.
Messages and recruiting tactics
Apple says messages left on Liu’s laptop discuss Tan’s alleged instructions and were used by Liu to coach Peng on how to “avoid trouble” when leaving Apple for OpenAI. The complaint further alleges that Liu advised Peng on how to get hired by OpenAI and warned her not to repeat the mistakes of other former Apple employees who, according to Apple, failed to give the company the insights it wanted about top-secret projects and unreleased products.
Apple frames these allegations as evidence of a coordinated scheme to “take an unlawful shortcut” and build AI-powered devices that could compete with Apple’s own products.
OpenAI denies using Apple trade secrets
In a statement to Ars, OpenAI said it is still reviewing the complaint but disputes Apple’s central allegation that it is relying on Apple insights to build a rival hardware business. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” OpenAI’s spokesperson said. “We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also weighed in on X over the weekend. In response to another user suggesting OpenAI feared Apple’s lawsuit, Altman wrote: “I am not afraid of Apple, but I have tremendous respect for them.”
Why Apple says the case matters
Apple is asking the court to block OpenAI from benefiting from the alleged theft and to stop the company from using confidential information obtained by former Apple employees. The complaint says discovery will likely reveal a broader “pattern of theft of Apple’s trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple.” Apple also says OpenAI has poached more than 400 former Apple employees.
The company argues that the alleged conduct is not limited to Liu and Peng. It says the evidence suggests a wider recruiting strategy aimed at exposing Apple’s internal knowledge, including details about future products and business strategy. In the complaint’s sharpest language, Apple says OpenAI’s hardware business rests on “the shakiest of foundations” and is “rotten to its core” because of its alleged dependence on misappropriated trade secrets.
Apple is taking a familiar path, but the outcome is uncertain
Apple has accused rivals of stealing technology before, including major disputes with Samsung and Nvidia. The company settled a long and expensive case with Samsung in 2018 and dropped a chip-design fight with Nvidia in 2023, according to The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Apple may be trying to slow OpenAI’s hardware plans or limit further staff poaching.
Still, some parts of the case may prove difficult to test. The Wall Street Journal noted that engineers commonly bring computer parts to job interviews, and it is possible that only non-proprietary information was discussed. For now, Apple’s complaint presents a serious escalation in the rivalry over AI hardware, employee movement and the value of confidential product knowledge.
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Source: Original report
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Last Modified: July 14, 2026 at 6:19 pm
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