Having spent decades covering Apple, I understand and respect its efforts to maintain a shroud of secrecy over its product development. When I read this line in the blockbuster Apple vs OpenAI lawsuit, I can hear the voices of countless Apple executives and PR people who, rightly or wrongly, feel deeply wronged by what it considered a trusted partner: “OpenAI’s fledgling hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illicit reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
Late last week, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and, more specifically, a couple of key employees who over the past two years left Apple to join OpenAI’s hardware business. The massive suit, which requires a jury trial, accuses the pair of corporate espionage, essentially stealing a number of trade secrets to help bolster OpenAI’s still-unrealized efforts to build AI hardware (it’s currently working with Jony Ive to build what could eventually be a wearable device).
I have spent some time sift through the documents and, to be honest, the allegations are astonishing and, if true, seem inexplicably brazen to people who spent years with the Cupertino tech giant.
From the inside out
Tang Yew Tan, who currently serves as OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer, was with Apple for a quarter of a century and according to his own LinkedIn profile, “Oversaw design and development of the iPhone and Apple Watch Product Design, Interconnects Design, Acoustics and Materials technology centers.”
Chang Liu (whose LinkedIn handle is “changliu-apple”) spent nearly a decade as an iPhone Electrical Engineer.
Apple’s NDAs that they give 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) Apple says it asks employees to sign from time to time. The language is probably suitably terrifying; it’s hard to imagine how Liu and Tan could ignore them, and yet, according to the lawsuit, that’s exactly what the pair did both during their waning days at Apple and in the aftermath when they joined OpenAI.
OpenAI’s only public response so far has been from its director of strategic communications Drew Pusateri, who told X: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
The company’s co-founder and CEO Sam Altman also referred only obliquely to X when someone accused him of being afraid of Apple. He wrote: “I’m not afraid of Apple, but I have enormous respect for them. s-tier company.” (“S-Tier” basically means “elite”).
i’m not afraid of apple, but i have huge respect for them. s-tier company.11 July 2026
I will not ask you to read the entire document and have instead selected the most salient accusations:
A potentially sneaky exit
When Liu left Apple, he reportedly took his laptop with him. If you’ve ever worked in a corporate environment, you know this is a no-no. Most companies will chase you to the ends of the earth to retrieve that hardware and whatever corporate access and secrets it contains.
It gets worse
Lui obviously didn’t put the old (we assume) MacBook on the shelf. Instead, according to Apple, he exploited a network vulnerability and used the system to gain access to Apple’s network folders. If true, it’s an incredibly brave move. Liu would surely have known how Apple’s internal investigative techniques could detect what was accessed by whom and when.
Bragging
While allegedly downloading Apple’s proprietary files (details of unreleased products, presentations, technical data, specifications, and more), Liu may have sent a message to someone via the Apple-issued laptop celebrating how he caught Apple’s eye with “LOL” and “so much fun.” Again, was Liu the most careless corporate spy ever? Who would brag knowing that Apple would eventually stumble over these details?
Coaching of recruits
Apple alleges that Liu actually recruited Apple employees and coached them on how to collect data before he left the company. He may have told them how to email themselves files before leaving Apple.
Now I understand how some of your e.g. personal data may end up with company data, and you may want to hold on to some of it. On the other hand, if you didn’t keep a firm line between work and personal files, that’s up to you.
A real betrayal
Tang Yew Tan spent 25 years with Apple and what he is being accused of has certainly left Apple furious and disappointed. “Mr. Tan has methodically used Apple’s confidential information to benefit OpenAI,” Apple claims.
Like Lui and other Apple recruits, Tan may have sent himself proprietary Apple information.
Using Apple Codenames
Apple alleges that Tan asks Apple recruits about upcoming projects using code names that only Apple employees would know.
We have their OK
This one is kind of mindless. Apple alleges that OpenAI used Apple information to get a partner to use a “specific trade secret metalworking technique” because they were convinced that partner Apple was OK with them doing so.
Execute
This last is perhaps the boldest move of all. Apple claims that OpenAI instructed potential Apple recruits to bring everything from CAD files to actual prototypes or parts to OpenAI interviews.
It’s a particularly stunning accusation, and again, it just seems so reckless. What kind of corporate spies operate with this level of impunity?
Of course, at some point OpenAI will respond properly to this lawsuit, perhaps with one of their own. Apple could also ultimately settle this case out of court. They have done this before with similar cases, although I don’t think they were quite at this level.
Can they come back from this?
Whatever happens with this case, it’s hard to imagine the Apple/OpenAI relationship, which is already something filled, survives.
For now, you can explicitly choose to use ChatGPT to handle requests in the new Siri in iOS 27 dev beta, and it’s an important part of Image Playground and Visual Intelligence. Apple could withdraw those options and lean more heavily into its Google Gemini Foundation Model partnership while this case works its way through the courts.
I don’t think it will significantly affect your iPhone experience, but the loss of 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.
Plus, if OpenAI loses, it could see a lot of the internal hardware innovation potentially tied to Apple’s work blocked from ever reaching consumers’ hands.
And of course it will be difficult for the partnership to recover from this passage in the suit:
“Apple lacks visibility into what has gone on behind closed doors at OpenAI, where such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by management. However, this much is clear: At every level, from members of its technical staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has stolen Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information.”
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