OpenAI has hit back at Apple in a growing legal fight, saying the iPhone maker has failed to show that any of its trade secrets were stolen and is partly responsible for the situation because of how it handled departing employees.
OpenAI has firmly denied Apple’s allegations of trade secret theft. In a court filing late Monday, the AI lab pushed back against a July lawsuit that accused former Apple employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu of stealing hardware and supply-chain secrets. Apple claims these moves were part of a deliberate strategy to learn a competitor’s secrets as OpenAI builds its own consumer devices.
OpenAI’s response was blunt. “This dispute is a mess of Apple’s own making, and it is trying to blame everyone else,” the company stated in U.S. District Court in California.
OpenAI argues that California law clearly allows employees to move freely between rival companies. Court filings show OpenAI has hired roughly 400 former Apple workers for its hardware push, a normal shift in a highly competitive industry.
The core of OpenAI’s defense points directly at Apple’s own internal habits. The filing notes that Apple actively encourages its staff to use personal iCloud accounts to access work documents. Furthermore, when employees resign, Apple’s strict policy is to immediately escort them off the premises. OpenAI argues this rushed exit gives workers no time to properly return company devices, transfer internal files back, or hand over responsibilities in an orderly way.
SEE ALSO: OpenAI Moves to Dismiss Apple’s Trade Secrets Lawsuit
The former employees also spoke for themselves to clear their names. Chang Liu stated that any access to Apple documents after his departure was simply to help former colleagues locate files, noting that Apple staff repeatedly contacted him for assistance. Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple, said he returned all prototypes before leaving and only kept non-confidential items, like a standard employee departure checklist.
Just two years ago, Apple and OpenAI forged a partnership to boost ChatGPT’s reach on the iPhone. That relationship has now completely soured as the race to build the next generation of technology heats up.
But OpenAI’s message to the court is clear. Employees can leave a company that has struggled to adopt new technology and move to a startup building innovative products. Apple may not like those choices, but it cannot use its own sloppy procedures to blame others for the fallout.
Promise Idoko is Junior Reporter working with moderncrux He covers global politics and international affairs. Based in Nigeria,
