OpenAI Blames Apple for Trade Secrets Leak
OpenAI has rejected Apple’s allegations that former employees misappropriated trade secrets, arguing that the iPhone maker has failed to demonstrate that any confidential information was actually taken. The AI company says Apple’s workplace policies and employee-exit procedures contributed to access to company files. The case marks a sharp deterioration in the relationship between the companies, which partnered two years ago.
OpenAI made the argument in a filing submitted late Monday in the US District Court in San Jose, California. The filing states that “this dispute is a mess of Apple’s own making, and it is trying to blame everyone else.” Apple sued OpenAI and former employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu in July, alleging that they had taken trade secrets covering hardware design, manufacturing and supply-chain operations.
The lawsuit came as OpenAI expands its push into consumer hardware. The AI company has hired about 400 former Apple employees for its hardware initiative. It argues that California law permits employees to move between competing companies and that Apple is using the case to hinder a potential rival and discourage its staff from leaving.
Internal Procedures Under Scrutiny
OpenAI disputed Apple’s account and pointed to the iPhone maker’s handling of employee data. According to the filing, the company encourages employees to use personal iCloud accounts to access work documents. This practice creates difficulties in separating personal and corporate information when employees depart.
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OpenAI also criticised Apple’s practice of immediately escorting departing employees from its premises. The filing notes that the process can leave insufficient time for workers to return devices, move files back to the company, or complete handovers. Apple had alleged that Tan and Liu accessed internal Apple files after leaving the company and that the hiring of its former employees formed part of an effort by OpenAI to gain access to proprietary information.
Tan, who worked at Apple for 24 years, said he returned Apple prototypes before leaving and retained only non-confidential materials, including an employee departure checklist. He said that material was not confidential. Liu said in the filing that any access to Apple documents after his departure was intended to help former colleagues find files or respond to questions about work he had previously handled. Former Apple employees continued to contact him for assistance after he left.
Apple may not like those choices. But it cannot claim those choices are unlawful, and it cannot use its own sloppy procedures to blame others for its own mess, OpenAI said in the filing.
