Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with industry reaction, additional details and a statement from OpenAI.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sued OpenAI in federal court in Northern California on Friday, accusing the AI company of taking Apple’s trade secrets to accelerate its own push into consumer devices.
The complaint lands as publishers seek court sanctions against OpenAI in a separate Manhattan case tied to what they allege were misleading statements about tracking copyrighted material inside its systems.
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Apple’s filing, reported by CNBC, frames the dispute as a sharp break from the companies’ 2024 collaboration that brought ChatGPT into the iPhone’s software. That partnership has since cooled after OpenAI moved toward building hardware, including a $6.4 billion purchase of former Apple designer Jony Ive’s startup, IO Products.
For consumers and investors, both the Apple suit and the publishers’ sanctions push raise the same practical stake: whether OpenAI can be forced by courts to preserve records and prove what data or know-how it used, which can drive damages, injunctions and product delays.
Apple’s court papers allege that OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan, previously an Apple vice president, steered recruiting conversations toward extracting confidential details from Apple employees who were interviewing. Tan is named as a defendant.
Inside Apple’s Allegations
Apple also accuses OpenAI of encouraging departing Apple staff to sidestep internal security steps during their exits. The suit names Chang Liu, described as a former Apple employee who joined OpenAI, and alleges Liu took an Apple laptop.
In its filing, Apple contends Tan asked candidates to bring physical Apple components to interviews for show-and-tell sessions aimed at pulling out additional nonpublic information. Apple says the effort extended beyond individuals to coordination with business partners.
Apple further claims OpenAI asked outside hardware partners to use a metal-finishing method Apple says it created, while suggesting Apple had authorized that work. Apple is seeking damages and court orders that would bar OpenAI from using the alleged secrets and require it to stop.
An OpenAI spokesperson responded to the allegations in a statement to Benzinga: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
Industry Reaction And New Details Emerge
The souring relationship hasn’t gone unnoticed by industry watchers. Tech journalist Alex Heath, who covers the AI race and writes the Sources newsletter, said Apple executives were “ice-cold” when he asked about their OpenAI partnership at WWDC — “now we know why,” he wrote, noting that senior leaders from both companies happen to be at the Sun Valley conference this week. Heath added that while he was still reading the complaint, it contained “some cringe details.”
At WWDC, Apple execs I met with were ice-cold when I asked about their OpenAI partnership.
— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) July 10, 2026
Now we know why: Apple just sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to consumer hardware (Apple and OAI senior leaders are in Sun Valley this week. Yikes!)
I'm still…
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman added further detail on the scale of the dispute. According to Gurman, Apple says OpenAI has hired roughly 400 people from the iPhone maker to date — “a gigantic number,” he noted. Gurman also reported that Apple characterizes the lawsuit as unrelated to the companies’ partnership around ChatGPT in Siri — an arrangement that OpenAI has itself considered suing Apple over.
Apple says OpenAI has so far hired 400 people from the iPhone maker, a gigantic number of people. It says its lawsuit is unrelated to the company’s partnership around ChatGPT inside of Siri, which OpenAI has considered suing Apple over. https://t.co/zzSRrWjSYz
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) July 10, 2026
OpenAI’s Separate Court Fight With Publishers
Meanwhile, OpenAI is also battling publishers led by The New York Times in federal court in Manhattan over allegations that its models were trained on journalism without permission. In that case, the publishers are asking the judge to sanction OpenAI, arguing it withheld datasets and ChatGPT usage records that they say are key to testing copyright claims.
The sanctions request points to accusations that OpenAI claimed it could not locate copyrighted material inside its systems, while testimony from an OpenAI employee is cited by publishers as suggesting searches were possible after all. The publishers also allege OpenAI compressed and deleted vast amounts of conversation logs while the dispute was underway.
OpenAI has pushed back in that case, saying producing conversation records could expose user privacy. A spokesperson called the publishers’ allegations false and said the company would keep defending user privacy and fair use principles.
Apple’s lawsuit adds another front to that same tension between evidence preservation and privacy, because Apple’s claims focus heavily on how information moved through interviews, laptops, and supplier interactions.
Apple’s product roadmap has already shifted, with the company’s next Siri upgrade slated for the fall, built on Google’s Gemini models instead of ChatGPT. According to CNBC, Apple’s complaint also names IO Products, the startup OpenAI bought, as a defendant.
Read Also: New York Times-Led Publishers Escalate Copyright Fight, Seek Court Sanctions Against OpenAI
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