Apple and OpenAI clashed head-on over allegations that a former Apple engineer leaked trade secrets. The dispute between the two companies is expanding beyond whether an individual employee took confidential data to a battle for dominance in the next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) hardware market.
According to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on the 1st (local time), Apple claimed in additional filings that Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer who moved to OpenAI, siphoned off core power-conversion circuit schematics. A forensic analysis of Liu's MacBook, which OpenAI handed over on the 21st of last month, allegedly found traces that Liu accessed Apple's cloud storage after leaving and asked a colleague to delete related materials.
Apple suspects that in March this year Liu used the company's technical information to train an AI agent and perform circuit simulations. It asked the court to allow early discovery against OpenAI and others and to issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting access to, use of, or disclosure of Apple's confidential information.
OpenAI countered that Apple's claims are groundless. It said the materials in question are unrelated to OpenAI's work and were empty files with a size of "0" that were sent by mistake. It also said Liu accessed the system after leaving to cooperate with a former colleague who had asked for help. OpenAI further argued that Apple's security and offboarding practices—allowing the use of personal accounts for work and failing to properly revoke a departing employee's access—sparked the dispute.
In July, Apple filed a lawsuit against Liu, former executive Tang Tan, OpenAI, and the device developer founded by Jony Ive. Reports say about 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. OpenAI criticized the suit as an attempt to block talent mobility and competition, saying California law guarantees the right to move to a competitor.
The two companies collaborated in 2024 by integrating ChatGPT into Apple's voice assistant Siri, but they returned to competition as OpenAI jumped into developing consumer devices. OpenAI is developing a screenless AI device after acquiring Ive's company for $6.5 billion (about 9 trillion won). The court is scheduled to hear Apple's request for a preliminary injunction on Nov. 1.