Having spent decades covering Apple, I understand and respect its efforts to maintain secrecy over its product development. Reading this line from the blockbuster Apple v. OpenAI lawsuit, I hear the voices of countless Apple executives and PR execs who, rightly or wrongly, feel deeply wronged by what they view as a trusted partner: “OpenAI’s burgeoning hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to the core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.” »
Late last week, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and, specifically, two key employees who, over the past two years, left Apple to join OpenAI’s hardware business. The massive filing, which requires a jury trial, accuses the two men of industrial espionage, essentially stealing a series of trade secrets to help bolster OpenAI’s still-unrealized efforts to build AI hardware (it is currently working with Jony Ive to build what could eventually become a wearable device).
From the inside to the outside
Tang Yew Tan, who currently serves as director of hardware at OpenAI, worked at Apple for a quarter of a century and, according to his own LinkedIn profile, “Oversaw the design and development of the technology centers for iPhone and Apple Watch product design, interconnect design, acoustics and materials.”
Chang Liu (whose LinkedIn handle is “changliu-apple”) spent nearly a decade as an iPhone electrical engineer.
Apple’s NDAs that they hand out to journalists like me are almost legendary (the first time I signed one, I swear my hands were shaking). I can only imagine the intensity of the Intellectual Property Agreements (IPAs) that Apple says it requires employees to sign from time to time. The language is probably justifiably terrifying; it’s hard to conceive how Liu and Tan could ignore them, and yet, according to the lawsuit, that’s exactly what the two men did both during their final days at Apple and after joining OpenAI.
OpenAI’s only public response so far has been from its director of strategic communications, Drew Pusateri, who said on X: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on creating innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
The company’s co-founder and CEO Sam Altman also only indirectly referred to it on X when someone accused him of being afraid of Apple. He wrote: “I’m not afraid of Apple, but I have immense respect for this leading company.” (“S-Tier” basically means “elite”).
I’m not afraid of apples, but I have immense respect for them. S-level company.July 11, 2026
I will not ask you to read the entire document, but rather to select the most alarming accusations:
A potentially sneaky exit
When Liu left Apple, he reportedly took his work laptop with him. If you’ve ever worked in a corporate environment, you know this is a no-no. Most companies will pursue you to the ends of the earth to recover this material and the access and corporate secrets it contains.
It’s worse
He apparently hasn’t put the old (we assume) MacBook aside. Instead, according to Apple, he exploited a network vulnerability and used the system to access Apple’s network folders. If true, it’s an incredibly bold move. Liu would surely have known how Apple’s internal investigative services could discover what was accessed, by whom and when.
Boast
While allegedly downloading Apple’s proprietary files (details on unreleased products, presentations, technical data, specifications, etc.), Liu may have sent a message to someone via the Apple-provided laptop, celebrating how he was pulling the wool over Apple’s eyes with “LOL” and “so funny.” Then again, was Liu the most reckless corporate spy ever? Who would brag knowing that Apple would eventually stumble upon these details?
Coaching of recruits
Apple claims that Liu was actually recruiting Apple employees and coaching them on how to collect data before leaving the company. He may have told them how to email files to each other before he left Apple.
Now I understand how some of your personal data, for example, may end up linked to company data and you may want to keep some of it. On the other hand, if you haven’t kept a firm line between professional and personal files, it’s your fault.
A real betrayal
Tang Yew Tan spent 25 years at Apple, and what he is accused of has surely enraged and disappointed Apple. “Mr. Tan methodically used Apple’s confidential information for the benefit of OpenAI,” Apple claims.
Like him and other Apple recruits, Tan may have emailed himself Apple-exclusive information.
Use Apple codenames
Apple claims that Tan asks Apple recruits about upcoming projects using code names that only Apple employees know.
We have their OK
This one is pretty breathtaking. Apple alleges that OpenAI used Apple’s information to get a partner to apply a “specific, secret metal finishing technique” because they convinced the Apple partner to agree to them doing so.
Perform
This last step could be the boldest of all. Apple alleges that OpenAI asked potential Apple recruits to bring everything from CAD files to actual prototypes or parts to OpenAI interviews.
This is a particularly astonishing accusation, and again, it seems so reckless. What kind of corporate spies operate with this level of impunity?
Naturally, OpenAI will, at some point, respond appropriately to this lawsuit, perhaps with one of its own. Apple could also possibly settle this lawsuit out of court. They’ve done this before in similar cases, although I don’t think they’re at this level.
Can they come back?
Whatever happens in this case, it is difficult to imagine the Apple / OpenAI relationship, which is already a little tense, survives.
For now, you can explicitly choose to use ChatGPT to handle requests in the new Siri in the iOS 27 dev beta, and it’s a key part of Image Playground and Visual Intelligence. Apple could withdraw these options and rely more on its partnership with the Google Gemini Model Foundation as this case moves through the courts.
I don’t think this will have a significant impact on your iPhone experience, but losing direct access to those hundreds of millions of iPhone customers could hurt OpenAI, a company that Apple acknowledges is trying to build its own hardware business.
Additionally, if OpenAI loses, much of the internal hardware innovation potentially tied to Apple’s work could be blocked from reaching consumers.
And, obviously, it is going to be difficult for the partnership to come back from this passage in the trial:
“Apple lacks visibility into what is happening behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by executives. This much is clear, however: at every level, from its technical staff to its chief hardware officer, and in coordination with its business partners, OpenAI has stolen Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information.”
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