California: Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the ChatGPT maker of stealing trade secrets to accelerate the development of its upcoming artificial intelligence hardware, marking a dramatic escalation in tensions between the two technology companies.

Filed in a California federal court on Friday, the lawsuit alleges that OpenAI and two former Apple employees engaged in a systematic effort to misappropriate Apple's confidential information.

“This case is about Apple’s former employees stealing Apple’s trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI,” the filing says. “Apple brings this suit to put a stop to it.”

Apple also alleged that the theft of its proprietary information was part of a “coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level” by OpenAI.

The lawsuit names Tang Tan, Apple's former executive who helped design the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod and now serves as OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer, along with former Apple electrical engineer Chang Liu, who joined OpenAI earlier this year.

According to Apple, both employees improperly accessed confidential company information related to hardware development before and after leaving the company. The complaint alleges Liu downloaded sensitive hardware files on an Apple-issued device that he retained after his departure, while Tan allegedly encouraged Apple employees interviewing at OpenAI to bring "Actual parts" from Apple to job interviews.

Apple said it contacted OpenAI in February after uncovering what it described as "a pattern of theft" involving former employees but received no response.

An Apple spokesperson said the company would continue protecting its innovations.

“We will always defend our teams’ hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.”

OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit comes amid OpenAI's push into AI-powered consumer hardware, an initiative led by Tang Tan following the company's acquisition of io Products, the hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. Apple claims OpenAI's hardware ambitions rely on confidential technology taken from the iPhone maker.

“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 lawsuit says.

The legal battle represents a significant rupture in the relationship between the two companies, which partnered in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into Apple's ecosystem before increasingly emerging as competitors in the AI market