Apple formally sued OpenAI, accusing it of stealing trade secrets, involving former executives and core AI hardware projects. Apple formally filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on July 10, 2026, accusing OpenAI of allegedly stealing trade secrets and breaching contracts. This blockbuster legal action marks the end of the competition between the two major technology giants in the field of artificial intelligence.

Apple formally sued OpenAI, accusing it of stealing trade secrets, involving former executives and core AI hardware projects. Apple formally filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on July 10, 2026, accusing OpenAI of allegedly stealing trade secrets and breaching contracts. This blockbuster legal action marks the intensification of competition between the two technology giants in the field of artificial intelligence. Apple pointed out in the complaint that OpenAI’s senior leadership, including Tang Tan, the former Apple vice president of iPhone and Apple Watch product design and current OpenAI chief hardware officer, directed systematic theft of secrets and allegedly used Apple’s confidential project codenames in recruitment, required job applicants to bring Apple hardware components to interviews, and guided outgoing employees to circumvent company security procedures. In addition, former Apple senior system electrical engineer Liu Chang is also accused of using an unreturned Apple laptop to download confidential technical documents including unreleased technical specifications, engineering demonstrations and project data after leaving his job in 2026 to join OpenAI, and leaking the secrets to his former colleagues. Apple said that an ongoing investigation revealed that OpenAI and its partners had used Apple’s confidential information, including a proprietary metal surface treatment technology, in hardware products they were developing. Currently, OpenAI is actively promoting the development of its first hardware product through device startup io, which it acquired for $6.5 billion last year. Industry analysis shows that the device may be a smartphone that does not rely on applications and is entirely based on AI Agent, directly posing a major threat to Apple's core hardware business. In response, Apple issued a statement stating that it would resolutely defend the team's innovative achievements and apply to the court to prohibit OpenAI from using or disclosing its trade secrets; OpenAI publicly responded on the X platform that it was not interested in other companies' trade secrets and would continue to focus on the research and development of innovative technologies. The follow-up trend of this case may reshape the competitive landscape of the AI ​​hardware ecosystem. via AI News (author: AI Base)