Damning text message lands OpenAI in a massive legal nightmare with Apple
The legal fight between two tech behemoths has escalated after Apple filed a trade secret lawsuit accusing former employees who joined OpenAI of taking some of the company’s most valuable internal information.
According to the complaint, Apple alleges that former staff members Tang Yew Tan and Chang Liu were involved in 'a pattern of theft' involving confidential Apple trade secrets. The company is suing over alleged breach of intellectual property agreements and misappropriation of trade secrets under the Defend Trade Secrets Act.
Filed last week, the 41-pager contains Apple’s claims that confidential information was used to support OpenAI’s growing hardware ambitions.
OpenAI’s hardware plans have 'rotten' foundations
The ChatGPT owner is widely reported to be working on AI-powered hardware that could eventually challenge the iPhone, potentially including a smartphone-like device of its own. But Apple’s complaint argues that OpenAI’s hardware project was allegedly built using secrets taken from Apple.
“OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” the filing states.
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Apple also suggests the allegations in the lawsuit may only be the beginning. In the complaint, the company says the misconduct already described is the 'tip of the iceberg' and claims that discovery could uncover wider evidence.
“Discovery will expose that the misappropriation has been occurring on a scale many times greater than the several instances described below,” Apple states.
The damning text message
Most alarming was a seemingly casual text message allegedly sent by Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer at Apple who later joined OpenAI.
Apple claims Liu sent a message to Apple employee Yu-Ting 'Alyssa' Peng that read: “LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny.”
According to Apple, Liu was able to access internal Apple systems by exploiting an authentication bug from Peng’s Apple-issued work computer. Peng later joined OpenAI herself, though she is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Apple parts allegedly brought to interviews
Another major allegation involves OpenAI’s recruitment of Apple staff.
Apple claims Tang Yew Tan, who most recently worked as vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, asked Apple employees interviewing with OpenAI to bring 'actual parts' to 'show and tell' sessions. These included bringing 'CAD/design artifacts' and prototypes to the interviews.
One candidate was surprised by the request and said they did not even realise Apple parts could be taken out of the office, the complaint read.
Departing employees were coached, Apple says
Meanwhile, OpenAI were accused of coaching departing Apple employees on how to avoid triggering Apple’s internal security procedures.
The tech giant claims that OpenAI circulated an internal Apple document marked 'need to know' explaining how employees could avoid the 'dreaded walkout.'
The term refers to Apple immediately removing an employee after they give notice, rather than letting them continue working for the usual two-week period.
Apple argues that avoiding this process could have given departing employees more time to access confidential information.
OpenAI’s Apple hiring spree
Apple’s complaint also reveals the scale of OpenAI’s hiring process. According to the filing, more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. Apple uses this number to argue that many OpenAI staff may have knowledge of confidential Apple information that they remain legally obligated to protect.
Apple states that while it is not surprising some former employees would carry general experience and knowledge with them, it claims OpenAI has gone further by exploiting 'Apple’s confidential and proprietary information.'
Jony Ive’s io named in lawsuit
The lawsuit also names io, the hardware company founded by former Apple employees including Jony Ive, which OpenAI acquired last year in a $6.5 billion deal.
Apple alleges that io 'accessed, exploited and used Apple’s secret, proprietary industrial design techniques, processes, and know-how related to metal-finishing.' There are also allegations that OpenAI approached a supplier using confidential knowledge about power and battery components. Apple claims internal terminology was used in those conversations, including questions that 'only Apple-insiders would know to ask.'
For now, the claims remain allegations and have not been proven in court.