Apple sues OpenAI over alleged trade secrets

Apple has sued OpenAI in a trade secrets case that names OpenAI’s chief hardware officer Tang Tan and alleges a pattern of misconduct aimed at extracting confidential information from current and former Apple employees. OpenAI said it was not aware of any evidence that the complaint has merit, according to TechCrunch.

The filing lands as OpenAI tries to expand from software into devices, a move that would put it closer to Apple’s core business: consumer hardware built around tightly controlled ecosystems. TechCrunch reports that OpenAI’s first hardware push is expected to begin with a mobile smart speaker, and that the company’s hardware division has been working with Jony Ive and his firm. Apple’s complaint does not publicly spell out which trade secrets were taken, but it argues the information could be used for a competing product.

Even without an immediate injunction, litigation can become a scheduling weapon. Discovery demands, employee interviews, and the need to wall off teams from disputed knowledge can slow development, complicate hiring, and make partners cautious about what they share. The case also creates personal risk for senior staff: when a named executive is central to a new division, legal uncertainty can ripple through roadmaps, vendor negotiations and investor messaging.

For Apple, the lawsuit is a way to force an adversary’s hardware plans into a court-supervised process, with deadlines and sworn statements replacing marketing hints and carefully edited launch videos. For OpenAI, the dispute arrives amid leadership churn and a broader race to ship new products fast enough to justify valuation narratives—conditions that can make any internal boundary between “what we built” and “what we learned elsewhere” harder to defend.

TechCrunch notes that OpenAI has recently had a courtroom win against Elon Musk, but a trade secrets case is a different kind of fight: it turns on documents, employment histories and engineering detail rather than public claims.

Apple filed its complaint last Friday. OpenAI’s first hardware product is still described only in broad terms.