The legal dispute between Apple and OpenAI has taken an unexpected turn. Until now, OpenAI had mainly been defending itself against Apple's accusations that it had obtained trade secrets through former Apple employees. But now the creators of ChatGPT have made an allegation of their own. According to a new court filing, after leaving for Apple, their former employee sent more than a hundred files concerning an as-yet-unannounced product to his personal account and later gave a presentation about the product to Apple executives.
Apple, OpenAI, and then Apple again
OpenAI does not name the man in the filing, but his career path is significant. He first worked at Apple, then moved to OpenAI, where he stayed for six months, and finally returned to the iPhone maker.
OpenAI discovered his actions through an investigation connected to Apple's lawsuit. According to the filing, the ongoing forensic review revealed that the individual had sent files to his personal accounts. The materials were highly sensitive. The files included detailed images of the device, technical and manufacturing data, supplier information, project documents, and standards for surface finishing and sealing. According to OpenAI, some of the files were sent shortly after midnight Singapore time on June 2, 2026, his final day of employment.
Presentation to Apple executives
Downloading the documents was serious in itself, but OpenAI claims the incident did not end there. According to the company, the former employee presented the manufacturing plans to senior Apple executives, including the vice president of operations in Asia. This allegedly happened several months ago.
OpenAI links this to its competitor's recent moves. The filing states that Apple is now using this information to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence products. It points to the October launch of the Home Collection range of smart home accessories and reports about the HomeView device. However, OpenAI has not demonstrated that Apple actually used its information during development.
OpenAI has expressed concern that its trade secrets are circulating within Apple, where engineers may use them as a basis for future products. The company reportedly contacted Apple directly, but Apple has not yet provided assurances that it does not possess or has not used the information.
Apple denies everything
The iPhone maker firmly rejected the allegations. Apple said it has strict policies in place to ensure that new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers. It reportedly found no evidence supporting OpenAI's claims. According to Apple, OpenAI is merely attempting to divert attention from the allegations that it stole trade secrets and has also failed to respond to a request for details needed for the investigation.
What sparked the dispute
To understand why both companies are accusing each other of the same thing, we need to go back to the summer. On July 10, Apple filed a lawsuit in federal court against OpenAI, io Products, and two of its former employees, Tang Tan and Chang Liu.
Tang Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as vice president of iPhone and Apple Watch design. He then co-founded io Products, which OpenAI acquired in 2025 for approximately $6.5 billion. The company is also backed by Jony Ive, Apple's renowned former design chief. The second defendant, Chang Liu, worked at Apple for eight years as an electrical engineer before joining OpenAI in January.
Apple claims that these individuals did everything possible to obtain its secrets. Tan allegedly emailed himself information about suppliers and asked applicants from Apple to bring components to interviews at OpenAI. Liu, meanwhile, allegedly downloaded confidential files from the corporate network and advised another employee on how to copy them. According to the lawsuit, Tan used secret project code names during interviews to extract information about unreleased products from applicants.
According to the lawsuit, OpenAI employs approximately 400 former Apple employees. Moreover, the device OpenAI is developing could one day compete directly with Apple's products. Apple submitted to the court a TechCrunch article describing leaked details about OpenAI's first hardware product. It is a display-free smart speaker that the company is developing with Jony Ive's LoveFrom studio. OpenAI has never confirmed these leaks.
OpenAI has vigorously defended itself against the lawsuit from the outset. In a public statement, it called Apple's approach careless, aggressive, and oddly personal. It also released internal messages and emails intended to refute the allegations. Its lawyers went even further. According to them, Apple is abusing a baseless lawsuit to conceal its inability to retain talented employees and its failure to integrate artificial intelligence into its products.
Yet until recently, the two companies were partners. In 2024, they agreed to integrate ChatGPT into Apple's ecosystem. Bloomberg reported in May that OpenAI itself had considered filing a lawsuit because it believed Apple had not promoted the partnership sufficiently.
Sources: foxnews.com, thestar.com, theguardian.com and nypost.com
