Apple is suing OpenAI over claims that ex-engineers stole trade secrets on their way out the door.
Apple filed suit Friday, seeking injunctions to block OpenAI from using confidential information it says was taken by former employees. The case centers on Chang Liu, an engineer who spent eight years on sensitive Apple product development before leaving for OpenAI, and Yu-Ting "Alyssa" Peng, who was still at Apple when the alleged scheme unfolded. Apple says it uncovered the situation while investigating internal messages between the two. A bug in Apple's own systems — described in the complaint as "rare" — let Liu keep access to Apple servers for weeks after his termination, during which time Apple alleges confidential data walked out with him.
Apple's complaint frames the alleged theft not as opportunism but as a coordinated plan: OpenAI, it claims, conspired with former Apple employees to take an "unlawful shortcut" toward launching AI-powered hardware competitive with the iPhone. That framing matters. It turns a trade secret case into something closer to an industrial espionage allegation, with OpenAI cast as a knowing participant rather than an unwitting recipient of stolen goods.
OpenAI has been aggressively recruiting hardware talent as it pushes into consumer devices, including its reported project with Jony Ive. Apple, meanwhile, has been slow and guarded in its own AI rollout. If the allegations hold up, this lawsuit is less about one bug and more about two companies racing toward the same product category with very different runway.